Vengeance Rising
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Just as Willow returns from England, there's not much time to rest for her as a stranger starts targetting the Scoobies. Without much time to lose, her loved one and she have to find out who he is and what his true goals are. Willow/OC est. relationship, rating for violence and a certain foul-mouthed demon.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: As promised, here we go with the next one. I'm really running out of things to say here… Any wishes? XD

Disclaimer: None of the characters from B:TVS are mine. Just borrowing them for a while to play a little with them.

* * *

Vengeance Rising

"…to drink, Ma'am?" The polite, but still friendly voice tore Willow out of the thoughts she had been pondering ever since she had boarded the plane, and she nearly flinched in her seat as she looked up, at the smiling face of the flight attendant; making herself smile back, she shook her head, the woman just nodding before she moved on the ask the passenger behind her if he wanted anything.

Looking out of the window again, the redhead returned her attention to the contents of her mind; it had been almost a month that she last had sat in a plane, on her way to England to get the dark magic within her back under control, and now that this had been accomplished as well as it was possible, she was on her way back to Sunnydale, to reunite with her friends and her loved one. The thought of Pat filled her with a strange mixture of nervousness and happiness; they hadn't spoken since she had left for England, since the usage of cell phones and other modern methods of communication had been discouraged by Natasha, the head of the coven, and even though she had been longing to hear her partner's voice at least once, Willow had accepted this rule and had stuck to it, not even calling to tell the demon when she would arrive at the airport, Natasha reassuring her that she had taken care of this.

_Let's hope she really did take care of that, _the witch thought to herself as she watched the clouds pass by beneath the plane outside; she didn't doubt the other witch's words, not really, but the thought of standing at the Sunnydale airport with no one there to pick her up made her heart clench up nonetheless.

Holding back a sigh, she briefly closed her eyes as she thought of the final words the elder witch had said to her, of the warning she had spoken about how the dark magic was still there, always would be there, only shoved back to be under her control once more; she had warned her imploringly to not use those powers again anytime soon, that this might make them break right back out and take over once more, and the mere thought of this happening made a shudder run through the redhead's body. Again, she thought of the events which had taken place before she had gone to England once more, of the shock she had felt after waking up from yet another dark-magic-induced blackout and had found herself looking at her partner, the taller woman visibly shaken up and weakened; she remembered how scared she had been when she had seen that whatever the dark magic had done to her partner had caused part of her hair to go grey, and idly wondered if said grey still was there now, after several weeks had passed.

Then, she remembered something even more unpleasant, nearly shivering again as she thought of the look that had been on Pat's face when she had caught her in bed with Mel, someone who had been sent to Sunnydale to help her and instead had ended up betraying her and causing even more pain and harm; the demon had reassured her that she had forgiven her, but still Willow found herself worried about the truth of this words, finding it hard to imagine that she really had been forgiven so easily after this dreadful incident, even though it hadn't been her fault.

Still she felt nervous about seeing her partner again after what had happened, unable to stop wondering if maybe, Pat had changed her mind during the time she had been gone and had decided that the cheating had been too bad after all and that it'd be better to break up; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself not to be stupid, that Giles had explained it all to the demon and that she really had forgiven her and hadn't just said so to make her agree about going to England again.

Now eager to distract herself from those unpleasant ponderings, Willow dug out the book she had brought along; she managed to keep herself busy with that for almost an hour, then got distracted once more by yet another flight attendant as the woman moved through the aisle between the seats with the meals the airline provided for its customers.

Even though she didn't really feel hungry, the redhead accepted the tray and thanked the young woman for it; figuring that she'd spend a few more hours in the plane and that she might as well eat the food, since it had been paid for already and she couldn't know if she wouldn't end up hungry later on. Thus, she ate the whole meal, even though it wasn't all too tasty or well-prepared; and after she had finished eating, she leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes, soon drifting off into an uneasy, but dreamless sleep.

* * *

"…Sunnydale airport, please fasten your seatbelts", the crackling sound of the captain's voice coming through the speakers tore Willow out of her sleep several hours later, the redhead briefly surprised how long she had been slumbering – after all, she hadn't been all too tired when she had gotten on the plane, even though the flight had left early in the morning, and had been sure that she wouldn't be able to get much sleep.

Sitting up in the seat, she stretched, grimacing at her back cracking, before she did what the pilot had said and put on the seatbelt, then looked out the window again, her heart beating faster when she saw the lights of Sunnydale beneath the plane. Now feeling nervous again, she shifted on her seat once more, imagining various scenarios of being reunited with her partner; and even though she wanted to reunion to be happy, she couldn't help herself, but imagine several which turned out to be the complete opposite, either with Pat not being there at all and Buffy telling her that she had left town after she had gone to England, or with the demon telling her that she only had come to the airport to break up with her after all.

_Stop that, _she told herself, mildly annoyed at her own mind for wigging her out like that, _she'll be there, she forgave you, and you know it! _

Still she couldn't help it, but kept feeling nervous as the plane slowly started to descent; and by the time it landed and they all were allowed to get out, her heart was hammering up to her throat, and when she stretched to get her bag out of the compartment over her head, she noticed that her hands were trembling visibly.

"Are you okay, dear?" an old woman next to her wanted to know, giving her a concerned look, "you're trembling all over."

"Um, I'm fine, thanks", the redhead gave back, forcing a smile which felt way too fake on her face, "I just… I get a bit nervous whenever the plane lands."

"Oh, I know about that", the woman grimaced, giving her a sympathetic look, "I always have to take a calming pill before the plane lands or my stomach goes crazy on me!"

Not sure what to reply to this, Willow just smiled sympathetically, making the old woman grin back at her; then, the passengers already lined up in the aisle started to move, signalling that the door had been opened, and the redhead quickly moved into the line, taking a few deep breaths as she approached the exit.

Even though it already felt as if she was close to a heart attack, her heart rate sped up even more as she walked down the gangway with the other passengers; and when she could see the gate leading to the terminal up ahead, her stomach decided to make things even worse by clenching up, and for a moment, she felt like turning around and bolting back into the plane. Then, she told herself not to be stupid once more, and that she shouldn't be afraid, but excited about seeing her partner again any moment; and with that thought settling on her mind, she even sped up her steps, making her way through the gate a minute later.

Slowing down a bit again, she looked around, eager to spot anyone of her friends; her heart sank when she couldn't see any familiar faces, and she slowed down even further as she kept craning her neck, finding it hard to believe that no one would be there to pick her up.

_Maybe Natasha didn't tell them after all, _she thought to herself, her gaze still wandering over the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones to reunite with them, _I should call Pat and—_ Her heart performed a daring leap in her chest when she spotted a very familiar figure in the crowd, a wide smile forming on her face as she got a closer look when one of the taller passengers in front of her moved out of her line of sight and gave her the chance to spot the black and red hair and the eyepatch; then, Pat had seen her too and started grinning from ear to ear, pushing past the other waiting people and then making the scene complete by opening her arms, ignoring the way the men and women around her were glaring at her.

Now smiling so wide that it felt as if the corners of her mouth would reach her ears any moment, Willow sped up again, until she was almost running, moving past the other people making their way to the waiting crowd; and for the last few steps, she actually did run, then jumped, bursting into giggles as she felt the taller woman catch her and keep her feet from touching the floor again.

For the blink of an eye, the witch felt torn between saying something and just kissing her; then, she decided the second option was best and, not caring who was watching and what these people might think, wrapped her legs around the taller woman's waist and kissed her deeply, her heart soaring to the skies when she immediately felt the demon respond.

"God, I've missed you", she breathed after they had pulled apart again and Pat carefully lowered her so she could stand on her own feet again, "I can't even think of the all the superlatives necessary to describe how much…"

"Me neither", the taller woman replied, smirking slightly with a well-known glint in her eye which made the redhead giggle again, "cause all I can think about right now is to undress you and make up for three weeks, five days, and eleven hours of being apart."

"You counted the hours?" Willow giggled in reply, "that's so cute."

"Yup I did", the taller woman confirmed, smirking again, "I only refrained from counting the minutes because I was worried the others might think I'm insane then."

"Understandable", the redhead agreed, then realized that said others were nowhere to be seen and frowned before she looked around, her gaze moving back to her girlfriend a few moments later. "Where are the others, anyway?"

"Somewhere back there", the demon smirked, gesturing at the crowd of people still waiting for their loved ones to come off the plane, "I made them wait there, I said I wanted to be the first one to see you and to greet you."

"Somehow, that's cute and selfish at the same time", Willow smiled, then pulled the taller woman down for another kiss; she had intended it to be short and innocent, but couldn't bring herself to pull back, a soft sigh escaping her when the kiss deepened a few seconds later.

"You know", the witch mumbled after the kiss, her eyes sparkling, "we really should go and find them so I can say hello to them, too…"

"Or we could just stand here a bit longer and kiss some more", Pat suggested, making the redhead giggle once more; the couple shared another kiss, a short and innocent one this time, then Willow grasped the taller woman's hand and gestured towards the back of the ground, suggesting that they should go and find the rest of the gang now.

"Okay, fine", the demon agreed with an exaggerated sigh, "less kissing and more finding of the gang then…"

Giggling again, the redhead nodded, then started moving through the crowd with her partner by her side; only now, she fully realized that the grey had vanished again from the taller woman's hair, and she commented on it, not surprised when immediately, Pat started to smirk again.

"Yeah", she then confirmed, "about two weeks after you'd left, I demoned out one time because some idiot vampire had called a bunch of buddies, and when I changed back, no more grey. Luck me, huh?"

"Indeed", Willow nodded, an impish smile curling her lips moments later, and a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes as she went on, her next words making the demon huff. "It's eye-catching enough that you have two colours in your hair, but three? That was bit of an overkill."

"Barely back for ten minutes, and already she's sassy again", Pat said to no one in particular in reply, making the redhead laugh once more; then, she stopped walking to pull her down for another kiss before they finally managed to make their way out of the crowd, spotting Buffy and the rest of the gang a few moments later.


	2. Chapter 2

"Willow!" Dawn was the first one to spot the witch and, with a happy squeal, to rush forward and hug her; giggling happily at the warm welcome, Willow returned the hug, only to end up pulled out of the embrace moments later by Buffy, the Slayer hugging her tightly as well.

"Careful, careful", she brought out after a second, still laughing, "Slayer strength, remember?"

"Sorry", the blonde grinned, loosening the hug a bit, "we just all really missed you!"

"Even I did", Anya felt the need to be as direct as ever again, smiling brightly at Willow as she moved in for an embrace as well, forcing Buffy to move out of the way; after the brunette had gotten her share of hugging the witch, it was Xander's turn, and then, even Giles moved in for a brief, but tender embrace.

"I missed you all, too", the redhead smiled once all the hugs needed had been exchanged, "I'm really happy to be back…"

"So are we", Anya beamed at her, "if only because now, Pat will shut up about you! It was getting really tiring."

"Wow, you're extra charming today", the demon replied dryly, making her partner giggle, "what happened, did you sleep bad or something?"

"No, I slept very well, thank you for asking", the brunette replied totally sincere, making the others smile and chuckle at her failure to understand the sarcasm; she looked confused for a moment, then shrugged it off and smiled happily again, her gaze focusing on Willow once more as she spoke on.

"We figured you might be tired after the flight and all", she let the witch know, "but we also want to celebrate that you are back, so we made a dinner reservation for our whole group in this Chinese restaurant you like so much."

"Oh, how nice", Willow smiled in reply, "I really missed that, there was no take-out at the coven, and, well, British cooking… no offense, Giles, but it's not exactly great."

"I am well aware of that", the Watcher smiled, clearly not offended, "my countrymen may excel in several activities, but cooking is not one of them."

"Natasha tried to make hamburgers for me once, so I'd feel at home", the witch let the rest of the group know as the started to make their way towards the exit, "the meat was practically burned outside and still raw inside, don't ask me how she managed that."

"I managed to do that once", Pat admitted sheepishly in reply, making her partner giggle once more, "but I solved it easily, cause I was at home and alone, so I just flamed up and grilled the shit out of that burger."

"Language, honey", Willow admonished at once, and at once, the demon responded by rolling her eye; then, they grinned at each other, the taller woman's next words making the witch laugh once more. "Can you believe I even missed that?"

"Can you believe I missed your dirty mouth?" the redhead giggled in reply, the couple grinning at each other again afterwards while Dawn let out a surprisingly high-pitched squeal, making the rest of the gang look at her in surprise and with a bit of confusion.

"Sorry", the teenager apologized, even blushing a bit, "but I just had to, I mean, they are so adorable together and I just really missed that!"

"She's right, you know", Buffy agreed, smiling, "you two really are adorable, every time I'm around you, I'm afraid your cuteness will give me cavities!"

"Now you're exaggerating", Pat gave back, smirking, "we're not that cute, and anyway, can you blame me for—"

The shocked scream coming from close to the exit interrupted her, and she almost automatically tensed up, along with the rest of the group; they all looked into the direction the scream had come from, just in time to see the reason for it – a tall and quite buff looking guy who was holding a gun in one hand, his eyes darting over the shocked people of the crowd as he was looking for his target.

"Gun!" the woman who had let out the initial scream now stated the obvious, by now having gained the attention of the security personnel as well, "he's got a gun!"

Ignoring her, the man kept looking through the crowd; then, his gaze suddenly stopped moving, and a smile curled his lips, giving the gang a brief moment to see he had brown and rotten teeth – before he brought the gun up, took a second to aim it at Buffy and pulled the trigger, the bang deafeningly loud despite the yells of the crowd all around him.

* * *

The moment the man had brought up the gun, Pat had started moving, her instincts taking over without even giving her time to think; and the second the gunshot sounded, she was tackling Buffy and throwing her down to the ground, a low grunt escaping her as she felt the bullet hit her instead of the Slayer, a feeling as if someone had hit her in the arm with a glowing hot sledgehammer.

For a moment, the man looked as if he wanted to fire again; then, he noticed the group of security men running towards him, yelling at him to drop the weapon, and he let out a low laugh – before he turned and ran off, vanishing through the exit doors a few seconds later.

"Pat!" Willow cried out as she fully realized what had happened, finding it hard to believe that their reunion had ended like this, "oh my God! Are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine", the demon pressed out between grit teeth, clutching her arm while she came to her feet again with the help of her partner, blood seeping out from between her fingers and dripping to the floor, "just hit me in the arm…"

"Wow, thanks", Buffy brought out as she got up again as well, looking and sounding stunned, "if you hadn't reacted so fast…"

"Who was that guy?" Anya wanted to know while Dawn moved to hug her sister, clearly happy to see her fine and well, "and why did he try to shoot you?"

"Probably to kill me", Buffy replied dryly, regaining her composure surprisingly fast, "surely not to improve my health."

"Look who's all snarky", Pat commented with a smirk, clearly not all too troubled by the fact that she had been shot just minutes ago, "seems like we've been hanging around together too much lately."

"Ma'am?" a security guard interrupted the little banter, eying the blood which was still dripping to the floor, "um… should we call an ambulance for you…?"

For a moment, Willow felt like asking him if he realized what an incredibly stupid question that was, seeing that her partner had taken a bullet just minutes ago; before she could say anything though, the demon shook her head and told the man that it was just a scratch, making sure to keep her fingers over the wound so he wouldn't notice it actually was more of a hole.

"Um, okay", the guy gave back, giving her an insecure look; she smiled at him charmingly, and after a moment, he obviously decided to believe her, giving a court nod before he turned to look at Buffy, making the blonde grimace slightly with what he said next. "We'll have to alert police about this, Ma'am, they'll probably want to contact you, could you leave your contact data with us just in case?"

"Sure", she replied after a second, "just… let me write down my number… Anyone got pen and paper?"

"No", "Unfortunately not", "Oh no, I left mine at home", "I just got off a plane, so no", her friends chorused in reply, nearly making her laugh and touching her by figuring out easily she wasn't exactly liking the idea of the police snuffing around in her life; to her dismay though, the security man produced both pen and paper, smiling at her, clearly not having an idea what was going on.

Behind her, Giles coughed, managing to intersperse the words "wrong number" into the coughing without the guy noticing; holding back a smile, Buffy wrote down the first random number she could think off, then handed the paper to the guy, answering with "Jennifer Lawrence" when he asked for her name.

"Thank you", the guard smiled, clearly having no idea he just had been lied to, "I suppose this man was just a maniac who shot randomly, but just in case the police thinks otherwise, you know."

"Of course", Buffy gave back, returning his smile; then, she asked if they could go now, pointing out that her best friend just had gotten off a tiring flight, the security man nodding in reply immediately, then spared them from coming up with any awkward goodbyes by turning around and walking off, re-joining his colleagues who had formed a small cluster a few steps away.

"Let's go", the Slayer said as soon as the man was out of earshot, "and find some private place where you can take on your furrier form and get rid of that bullet hole."

"Sounds like a plan", Pat agreed, grimacing slightly – by now, the feeling of getting hit by a hammer had vanished from her arm and had been replaced with sharp pain which even pulsed along with her heartbeat, something she didn't exactly enjoy.

"Poor you", Willow showed sympathy, grasping her partner's healthy arm, "and now I should scold you, for endangering yourself like that! What if that bullet had hit somewhere else? If you hadn't saved Buffy by doing that, I'd ban you to the couch."

"You'd ban me to the couch after we haven't seen each other for almost four weeks?" the demon demanded to know, sounding so incredulous that it was almost comical, "you can't possibly be serious!"

"Lucky for you that you saved me", Buffy smirked before Willow could reply anything as the group left the airport together, "how about that alley over there? Looks like there's no one walking through it right now, you won't take long to heal that, right?"

"I hope so", the taller woman grumbled as she made her way to said alley with the rest of the gang, "but you guys better stand around me, just in case."

"Remember to tone down the flames as quickly as you can", Giles instructed, just smiling when she rolled her good eye; then, she stopped walking and let the rest of the gang form a lose circle around her, making sure no one could see what was about to happen, should they happen to walk past that alley right this moment and glance in their direction.

Even though she knew that she should keep an eye out for anyone noticing what was going on in the alley, Willow couldn't help herself, but just had to watch how her partner changed into her "furrier form", as Buffy had put it; after they had been apart for almost a month, she found the process as fascinating as she had when she had seen it the first few times, years ago, a slight smile curling her lips as she watched how the taller woman's muscles thickened and her hair spread until it became fur, flames flickering all around her as she changed.

Then, an unexpected ripping noise suddenly echoed through the alley, along with a harsh curse coming from the demon; and moments later, Willow realized what had happened, covering her mouth with one hand to hold back her laughter, Buffy clearly having no such qualms since she giggled heartily while Xander and Giles politely turned away and Anya and Dawn just managed to grin quietly.

"Fuck", Pat repeated in the rumbling, throaty voice that came with her demon side, "just what I needed to make this disaster complete! Dammit!"

"That makes it sound as if having your pants ripped is worse than getting shot", Willow smirked while the fleshy noises which always accompanied the healing process set in, topped off by a small clank as the bullet was forced back out and fell to the ground, "you should check your priorities, honey."

"Well, the getting shot part has been dealt with", Pat argued in response, briefly interrupting herself by changing back, frowning as she looked down on the few sad shreds which remained of her pants and then blushing when she realized that now, the whole gang could see that she was wearing boxers with a myriad of little orange Garfields on them, "but now I have to go back home wearing… this. Too bad my clothes can't heal, as well."

"Good thing we came here by car", Xander threw in, still with his back to the demon just in case anything indecent might be exposed to the world, "imagine going on the bus in whatever state you are in now."

"I would have called a taxi", Pat replied at once, then rolled her eye as she realized why the young man and Giles were standing with their backs to her, "and you can turn back around, there's nothing… um… exposed."

"Okay", Xander shrugged, turning, only to let out a chocked sound when his eyes fell on the boxers, the look on his face forcing Willow to hold back laughter once more while the demon glared at him.

"Not a word", she then growled, and he responded by biting back more laughter; then, Giles suggested in a surprisingly serious tone that they should get back to the cars now so they could take Willow home, the redhead seeing the corners of his mouth twitch though as he turned away and finally losing the fight against her laughter, her noises of mirth accompanying the group as they made their way to the airport parking lot, the strange man and his attack on Buffy for the moment forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

"So", Willow spoke up as she entered her apartment, dropping her luggage in the middle of the living room – quite the careless thing to do, but after hours on a plane, she was too tired to care much – and letting herself fall down on the sofa, "I see you didn't burn down our home while I was gone."

"Of course not", Pat gave back at once, picking up the luggage as she walked past it and moving it to the bedroom, where it would be emptied later, "why would I? You would have banned me to the couch, the very one you are sitting on right now."

"Most likely", Willow giggled, then suddenly frowned as the illogical part of this struck her. "Wait", she thus added, "how could I ban you to the couch if you burned the place down? The couch would be burned, too."

"To the couch in our new place?" the demon suggested in reply, moving to sit down next to her, smiling when her words made the redhead giggle; she nodded, then leaned in to kiss her partner, the kiss quickly deepening again, a low moan escaping the witch when she felt the taller woman's hands slide beneath her shirt and caress her bare back.

"Goddess", she brought out as she had to pull back from the kiss due to lack of oxygen, "I've missed you so much, this simple touch is enough to get me all worked up."

"How do you think I feel", the demon rumbled in reply, the hoarse sound of her voice making it obvious how exactly she was feeling, "ever since I saw you at the airport, I couldn't stop thinking of this moment."

"Not even when you got shot?" Willow teased lightly in reply, not surprised when Pat shook her head; for a moment, she thought of the man again who had done just that, asking herself who he had been and why he had been after Buffy, then the taller woman's lips were on hers again, successfully distracting her from those thoughts.

"No more thinking of anyone getting shot now", Pat almost ordered once they had pulled apart again, "I got other things on my mind now…"

"No need to guess what those things are", the redhead smiled, making the black haired woman smirk momentarily as well – before she made her lie down on her back with gentle pressure and kissed her once more, her hands moving from her back to the hem of her shirt and tugging at it, and just a few minutes later, everything else but her partner had been blown from Willow's mind, as well.

* * *

"That was… awesome", the redhead sighed out quite some time later, rolling over in the bed – and briefly wondering when and how exactly they had gotten there – so she could look at her partner, her eyes sparkling, an expression she saw mirrored in Pat's gaze, the sight making her smile widen slightly.

"Indeed it was", the demon now agreed, scooting a bit closer to her so she could pull her into a loving embrace, "I really, really missed that. I mean, really."

"I hope that wasn't the only thing you missed", the witch giggled, figuring that her laughter was making it clear that she was teasing; if it did though, the taller woman decided to ignore it, since she suddenly grew serious, moving one hand to caress the redhead's cheek tenderly as she replied. "Nope, I also missed your laughter and your smiles and looking at your beautiful face, not to mention how cute you are when you start babbling, or how you scold me whenever I use dirty words. And that's just the beginning of that really long list of things I missed."

"You're so sweet", Willow sighed out in reply, touched, "I missed that… how sweet you always are with me. And how you'd glare at anyone who's not nice to me, there was this one really obnoxious warlock and I kept imagining how you'd put him in his place whenever he got too annoying."

She giggled at her own words, Pat chuckling as well, a mischievous glint in her good eye when she replied. "Good thing they wouldn't let you call any of us, cause if you had mentioned that guy on the phone, I would have flown there just to kick him in the ass."

"Well, they would have let me call if something really urgent had come up, or if I had really insisted", Willow smirked, snuggling closer to the taller woman, "but they suggested I shouldn't, because I needed to detach myself from everything back here to get it all under control again."

"Good thing you managed that and thus, could re-attach yourself", Pat smirked, moving one hand again to caress her partner's hair, "because I really missed you."

"And I missed you", Willow reassured her, craning her neck for a brief kiss before she went on. "And the rest of the gang. Talking about the rest, who do you think that guy who wanted to shoot Buffy was?"

"I hope he was just some maniac who shot her because he thinks she's pretty", Pat grimaced in reply, "because if not, it might mean a whole shitload of new trouble, and I was hoping for some quiet time, now that you are back."

"Language", Willow automatically replied, then frowned as she thought of her partner's words, sounding thoughtful when she spoke on. "Well, you know, this is Sunnydale, and with Buffy being the Slayer, I doubt the guy just shot her randomly."

"Probably", Pat sighed her agreement, "wait, let me make a prediction about the very near future. Tomorrow, Giles will call, probably wake us up, and tell us to meet him and the rest at his place. We'll do that, and he'll tell us all about how this guy is some kind of assassin or whatever, out to kill Buffy, and how we have to be careful and find a way to stop him, then there'll be some research, perhaps some magic, and then we'll kick his ass."

"You should become a fortune teller", Willow replied with a little laugh, "because I'm pretty sure all of what you just said will turn out to be true."

"Will I get a reward if it does?" Pat wanted to know, the lusty glint the redhead knew so well returning to her eye; still, Willow decided to ignore it for now, not wanting to make this too easy for the demon.

"Like what?" she thus asked, all innocence; in response, the taller woman let out a low huff, then answered by pulling her even closer for yet another kiss, her hands moving to caress her body again, and once more, everything but each other was pushed out of the couple's mind.

* * *

The sound of the phone ringing tore Willow out of her sleep in the next morning, and she let out a groan as she rolled over, for a moment feeling like ignoring the call; the phone kept up its persistent noise though, by now having rang long enough to wake Pat up as well, the demon letting out a low grumble while she tried to stuff her pillow into her ears.

"Bet it's your prediction coming true", the witch grumbled as she got out of the bed, realizing her partner wouldn't do so anytime soon, and made her way to the living room; there, she snatched up the phone and, not all too polite, greeted the caller with an impatient "Hello?", not really surprised when Giles' voice responded.

"Good morning, I'm calling to ask you to come to my house in the afternoon, for an urgent meeting", he let her know, the redhead rolling her eyes at how he immediately felt the need to go to the business part of his call.

"Why, thanks for asking, I'm fine too, and no, you didn't wake us up", she replied, in a rare moment of displaying her sarcastic side; she heard a snort behind her while Giles let out a cough and, upon turning around, found herself looking at Pat, the demon standing in the doorway leading to the bedroom with her arms crossed over her chest, watching her with an amused glint in her good eye.

"Sorry", the Watcher now distracted her from watching her partner, "but this is quite urgent. As you can surely guess, it is about the attack on Buffy yesterday."

"Of course, no surprises there", Willow muttered, then told herself that this had been enough sarcasm and gave her best to sound a bit more friendly when she went on. "And of course we'll be there. What time?"

"I was thinking two o'clock", Giles gave back, "drinks and snacks will be provided, so you won't have to bring anything."

"That's nice", the redhead gave back, a bit surprised – normally, Giles didn't point this out, but just did it.

"See you at two then", she added, then said goodbye after the Brit had agreed and ended the call; frowning, she turned to look at her partner, sounding just a bit confused when she told Pat about the meeting and about how Giles had pointed out that he'd provide drinks and snacks.

"He never did that before", she then added, noticing how the demon was snorting to herself again, clearly struggling to hold back laughter, "so why would he now? Seeing how you're close to start laughing your head off, I suppose you know why."

"It happened while you were in England", Pat replied, momentarily surprising the witch with how coherent she was already, seeing she just had gotten up, "he made the mistake to say that he had nothing at home and that we should bring our own stuff. We ended up with five bags of potato crisps, three bags of tortilla chips, two glasses of salsa, and six bags of various gummy bear like candies. Not to mention the dozen of soda bottles, various flavours."

"Oh my", Willow giggled, now seeing the exasperated face Giles surely had made when all this unhealthy stuff had appeared, "no wonder he said he'd provide it…"

"Yup, cause I was responsible for the tortilla chips, the salsa, and four of those bottles", Pat smirked, then apparently remembered that she just had gotten up, since she let out a huge yawn and even scratched the back of her head, the sight making the redhead giggle once more.

"And now I need coffee", her partner stated the obvious, "and my morning cigarette. What time is it, anyway?"

Realizing that she had no idea either, Willow checked the clock hanging on the opposite wall, her eyes briefly going wide when she saw how late it was – before she looked at her partner again and let her know that it was half past ten.

"Oh wow", Pat gave back, sounding mildly surprised as well, "I suppose it's a good thing Giles called, or we would have slept God knows how long."

"It's your fault", the witch playfully accused as they made their way to the kitchen together for breakfast, "you tired me out so much last night."

"And you loved every second of it", the demon replied at once, with a confident smirk, said smirk widening when the redhead said "Of course" at once, the couple grinning at each other and exchanging a tender kiss before they started with preparing their breakfast together, already looking forward to the meeting with the rest of the gang – and curious if Giles had found out anything about the still unknown assailant.


	4. Chapter 4

"I couldn't find out anything about this man", the Watcher told them several hours later as they all had assembled in his living room, drinking tea and coffee and eating the cookies he graciously had provided; at these words, Anya rolled her eyes, taking on the role of the blunt one again by saying out loud what everyone else was thinking. "Then why did you call us all here?"

"To see if you, as a thousand year old ex-demon, have any information about this", Giles primly replied, "and if maybe, Pat, as a former assassin, has."

"Well, I've never seen this guy in my life", Anya shrugged, "and yes, before you can ask, I did get a good enough look at him to say so. It was quite hard not to stare at him, what with the gun and all."

"Same here", Pat shrugged, "if he's an assassin, I've never met him. Not to mention that he can't be a very good assassin, what with the gun shooting in a very public place and everything. Amateur."

"Yes, he certainly didn't show much… finesse", Giles agreed, "but it's a pity neither of you knows him. This might have made finding him easier."

"You think he'll try again?" Willow frowned, helping herself to yet another cookie and taking a bite of it before she spoke on. "Why would you think so? I mean, now we know someone is after Buffy, so it'd be much harder to do anything to her, right?"

"Harder, but not impossible", Pat answered before the Brit could, "there are lots of ways you can kill someone without getting close to them, I mean, there are bombs, poison, sniping rifles if he likes guns, hiring someone else… and I'm not helping, am I." With the last words, she gave the Slayer an apologetic look while Giles let out a small cough, then took off his glasses and started to clean them, making everyone look at him again when he spoke up.

"It is best to assume that he will try again, if he has been hired by someone to kill Buffy, he won't give up so soon just because his first attempt was foiled", he pointed out, putting his glasses back on after holding them up into the light to see if they were really clean, "so it might be best for all of us to be on the lookout."

"For all of us? Why?" Pat wanted to know, shrugging when the Watcher gave her a disbelieving look.

"What?" she then defended herself, "don't look at me like that. If he's an assassin, he won't be interested in us, he'll only care about killing her. I know I never cared about my target's associates when I went after them."

"Well, that is good to know", Giles replied dryly, "but that you never did so doesn't mean that this man won't. If I'm not mistaken, you also never tried to shoot someone in a crowded airport, did you?"

"Good point", Pat had to admit, "but I still don't see why this would make him attack any of us. And anyway, if he tries to get Willow and me, he'll be in for a world of hurt."

"Yes, because you're a demon and she's a witch", Xander argued in response to that, "but Anya and me are just perfectly normal, ordinary humans, so if he goes after us…"

"Well, we don't know yet if he will", Willow pointed out, "so we shouldn't get all worked up about the possibility. What do we do to find out more about this guy?"

"I wish I still had some contacts in the assassin world", Pat sighed out, looking distraught now, "maybe any of them would know the guy. But they all hate me for working with you, Buff, so that's not really an option."

"Yeah, it's too bad", Buffy agreed, clearly not all too perturbed by the thought of someone being after her, "but I'm confident we'll figure something out anyway. If he even tries again, maybe he really did give up when his first attempt didn't work out so well. Thanks for that again, by the way."

"No biggie", Pat shrugged it off, finishing her coffee, "so what's the plan now? You come up with anything yet, Giles?"

"Unfortunately not", Giles sighed, giving the group a dismayed look, "I was really hoping that any of you would know anything about this man. And you're all sure you've never seen him before?"

"Positive", Buffy let him know, "I think I remember people who try to kill me. I'll surely remember this guy."

"So will I, seeing he actually shot me instead of Buffy", the demon agreed, "but I don't think I've ever seen him before."

"Me neither", Xander and Anya said in perfect unison, then Willow pointed out that she had been in England for the last four weeks and thus had no idea about anything which was going on in Sunnydale.

"Well, I advise you all are on the lookout anyway", Giles advised, still dismayed about how unhelpful this meeting had been – after all, the only result was that he now had less cookies, tea and coffee than before, and he surely had been for hoping more than that when he had called them all here. "After all, we can't know if this man might make another attempt at killing Buffy, or if he'll go after one of us."

"Yup, we'll be careful", Pat reassured him, "but if this is all you wanted to tell us, you might as well have done so on the phone."

"Well, it resulted in free cookies", Xander shrugged, taking another one of said treats and devouring it with one big bite, "but it's a pity we didn't find out anything new. Giles, what about your books, nothing in there?"

"Nothing", the Watcher sighed, "I already spent the morning looking for information, but, as our demonic friend so helpfully pointed out, assassins of her kind avoid guns. They're not fond of them."

"Yup", Pat agreed again, "we prefer methods which have more style, shooting someone is just lame."

"Maybe he's not a demon", Anya shrugged, "but a human. Humans can be assassins too, right?"

"Yes, of course", Giles gave back, sounding a bit impatient, "but going up against a Slayer as a mere human is hardly a good idea."

"Neither is trying to shoot anyone in the middle of a crowded airport", Willow pointed out, "so maybe he's not the brightest candle on the cake. Anyway, if that's all, I'd like to go back home now, there's still a ton I have to prepare for college tomorrow."

"Yes, yes of course", the Brit agreed, "I'll call you in case anything new comes up, and please, if you remember anything, do the same."

"Of course", the redhead agreed, then got up from her seat and prompting the rest of the group to do the same; they all said their goodbyes, then left the house together, their group breaking up at the sidewalk since they all had to go in different directions, all of them automatically looking around as they went back to their homes, looking out for the man who still might be out to kill one of them.

* * *

"Well, that was a waste of time", Pat said quite bluntly what Willow had been thinking, as well, "good thing there at least were free cookies, as Xander pointed out so helpfully."

"They were quite good", Willow agreed with a smile, watching how her partner dug out her cigarettes and lit one of them up, using the lighter she had given her as an anniversary gift a few years ago since they were out in public where people could see, "but Giles had a good point, we should be careful, he really might go after us."

"Yeah, he might", the demon agreed, "but if he'll come after you and me, he'll be in for a surprise. I doubt that someone who actually is dumb enough to try shooting the Slayer right in a frigging airport knows that two of her best friends are a witch and a demon."

"Good point", Willow giggled, "it only would have been more absurd if he had stormed at her with an axe or something."

"Well, that might actually have ended worse than the shooting did", Pat chuckled, only to let out a yelp of surprise and pain when the witch responded by punching her upper arm with surprising force.

"Ow, that the Hell", she then complained, "what did you do that for?"

"That shooting might have ended worse as well if that bullet hadn't hit you in the arm, but somewhere else", Willow pointed out in reply, sounding indignant, "you were lucky it didn't or, as I said, I would have banned you to the couch."

"Don't forget I also saved Buffy's life", Pat reminded her of that not unimportant fact, "or at least I think I did, who knows where that bullet might have hit her."

"Yeah, I remember that", the witch smirked, "which is why you slept in our bed last night and not on the couch."

"So kind of you", the demon dryly gave back, making her partner chuckle; after a moment, Pat smirked as well, then took another drag of her cigarette, letting out a small sigh afterwards, explaining the reason for that noise moments later as the redhead gave her a curious look.

"Well, I thought about asking the others to go out to the Bronze tonight", she let Willow know, "but now Giles managed to make me all worried about that guy still being around to kill Buffy, so I'm not sure it's a good idea, even though we all would like to celebrate your return to our illustrious little group."

"I get your concerns about that", Willow nodded after thinking about this for a moment, "I mean, if he attacked Buffy in that crowded airport, I doubt that the Bronze being full might stop him. But on the other hand, we can't just hide out from him now or something, I mean, Buffy will still have to go on patrol and everything."

"Oh shit", Pat realized in reply, once more prompting Willow to reprimand her with "Language" before she could go on, "I totally forgot about that! And apparently, so did Giles. Going on patrol might give that guy the perfect chance to finish Buffy off…"

"You should go with her", Willow suggested in reply, "just to make sure, if she's not alone, it'll be harder to get rid of her, right?"

"I suppose so", the demon agreed after a moment, "even though the fact that he clearly likes using guns is worrying me, I mean, what's stopping him from just lying in wait somewhere with a sniper rifle?"

"Oh don't say such awful things", the redhead shuddered, "now I won't be able to stop thinking about that. But you really should go on patrol with her anyway, you can use your heightened demon senses to figure out if he's around then, right?"

"I can try", Pat let her know, "and you're right, I'd feel bad forever if I didn't go with her and something happened to her then… I'll call her right when we're at home."

"Sounds like a plan", the witch smiled, "even though I would have loved to have you home so we can cuddle, Buffy's safety is our main concern now."

"Yup", Pat agreed once more, "this is just yet another reason why I want to kick this guy's ass, I mean, did he have to start coming after her now? Just when you came back from England? Talk about bad timing."

"Indeed", Willow grumbled, "make sure to give his ass a kick from me as well, in case I'm not when around when the actual kicking happens."

"Will do", Pat reassured her with a smirk, then bent down for a brief kiss; afterwards, they continued their walk to their home, both the witch and the demon still with unpleasant images of sniper rifles and bullets hitting Buffy present in their minds, no matter how hard they tried to push them aside.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, let's make this a quick one", Buffy said several hours later as she walked up to the cemetery gate where Pat stood waiting, smoking a cigarette, "because a), I don't want to be out at night too long when some loony might be around to kill me, Giles made me go all wigged out about that and b) you're surely eager to get back to Willow, now that she finally returned from England."

"Two very good points", Pat agreed with a smirk, "but you better don't tell Giles that, he might get all upset that you're not properly fulfilling your Slayer duties."

"Well, for once, he might not", Buffy gave back, pulling out a stake as they entered the cemetery together, "he's pretty worried about the guy, as well, he'll agree that walking around at night might not be the best idea as long as I could still be a target."

"It's too bad we didn't manage to catch that guy", Pat sighed, finishing her cigarette and throwing it on the ground, then stepping on it to put it out, "then we could have gotten rid of him or handed him over to the police or something."

"That would have been too easy", Buffy shrugged with a slight smirk, "and you've been here long enough to know that things are never easy here."

"Indeed", the demon grumbled, then fell silent as the familiar sounds of a vampire digging out of a grave reached her ears; obviously, Buffy had heard as well, since she looked into the direction the sounds had come from, then glanced up at the taller woman and nodded, her grip on the stake tightening slightly.

Together, they made their way into the direction the sounds were coming from, quickly finding the grave where the noises originated, in form of a female vampire giving her best to get out of the grave, grumbling to herself about how the earth was ruining her hair and her clothing.

"Wow", Buffy commented, making the brunette vampire look up at her, a hint of surprise on her face, "you're digging yourself out of your own grave and this is your only concern?"

"Well, that dress was very expensive", she explained after a moment, pushing herself further upwards and getting out of the grave all the way to her hips, "and my parents had my hair done really nicely for my funeral… Wait… I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Yup", Pat agreed, slightly amused by how easily this girl seemed to be taking her death, "even though right now, I'd rather describe you as 'undead', but I suppose you already figured that one out on your own."

"Oh, yes I did", the girl replied, pulling herself a few more inches out of the earth, "and I also figured out I'm a vampire now, which is pretty upsetting because I really liked to tan on the beach. But at least it explains why I'm so hungry all of a sudden!"

And with the last few words, her face changed, her canines lengthening and sharpening into fangs while the by now quite familiar bumps distorted her features; she let out a surprisingly loud growl, then launched herself the last few inches out of the earth and, with a surprising burst of speed and strength, against Buffy, both of them tumbling down to the ground.

With another loud growl, the vampire opened her mouth wide, ready to move down and sink her fangs into Buffy's neck; before she could do so though, she was grabbed from behind and jerked off the Slayer, a surprised little cry escaping her when she found herself briefly flying through the air – before she got stopped harshly by a headstone, a grunt escaping her as she hit it.

"Headstones", Buffy commented as she came to her feet again and picked up the stake she had dropped when the vampire had tackled her, "always a friend to Slayers and their assistants."

"So I'm your assistant now?" Pat wanted to know in reply, kicking the vampire as she tried to come back to her feet and sending her down to the ground again, "I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or honoured."

"Honoured, of course", Buffy let her know, moving closer to her and the vampire who still was on the ground, now appearing a bit dazed – apparently, she had not reached her full strength yet, being a mere fledgling who just had gotten out of her grave.

"There aren't many demons who can claim that they are helping the Slayer", she added, raising the stake; taking the quite obvious hint, the demon bent down to grab the vampire and hoist her up for the staking, only for the undead woman to jerk her head upwards and land a solid blow, a surprised and slightly nasal yelp escaping Pat as she stumbled back, momentarily blinded as the sharp pain made her good eye tear up.

Snarling, the vampire came to her feet, clenching her fists; dismayed about this unexpected delay of the dusting, Buffy took a step back, not surprised when the vampire came at her, trying to land a slightly clumsy, but surprisingly powerful hit, snarling again when the blonde blocked it easily with her forearm, then landed a kick in her midsection and sent her a few steps back again.

"I don't like getting hit in the face", the vampire heard Pat growl behind herself, then felt yet another kick, this time into the back; she ended up on all fours, then strong hands grabbed her arms and jerked her back to her feet, her eyes going wide for a second – before the stake hit home and she only had time to cry out, dissolving into a cloud of dust moments later.

"Not like getting hit in the face, huh", Buffy teased as she tugged the stake back into her belt, "any other places where you like being hit?"

"No, don't be silly", Pat replied, rolling her eye, "that just was the first thing which came to my mind. Bitch hit me right in the nose."

She grimaced and felt said nose, glad that apparently, it wasn't broken, something which was confirmed by the fact that she wasn't bleeding; still it hurt, and she grumbled to herself about obnoxious, dirty-fighting vampires as they kept on walking, looking for yet another potential bloodsucker to dust.

* * *

"Alright, let's call it a night", Buffy suggested four dustings later, "five is a good number to do so, and it seems like there aren't any more around, at least here."

"Yeah, and since so far, our trigger-happy new friend hasn't made an appearance, we shouldn't push our luck about running into him", Pat agreed, digging through her pockets for her cigarettes, only to grimace when she pulled the pack out and saw it had been crushed when a vampire had managed to make her fall to the ground during one of the night's fights.

"Great, just great", she muttered to herself in annoyance, opening the flattened pack anyway to see if at least one of the cancer sticks was still usable; to her obvious happiness, she did find one which was crumpled, but not broken, but before she could pull it out, her cell phone started blaring in her pocket, the loud electrical guitars echoing through the otherwise quiet night.

"Wow, you use such a loud ringtone when we go out slaying?" Buffy wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, "good thing no one called while we were sneaking up on that one vamp."

"I forgot to put it on silent mode", Pat replied, a bit ashamed, "but hey, no harm done, right?" With those words, she dug out the phone while Buffy just smirked, asking herself if this ever had happened to the demon while she still had been an assassin; then, she shrugged those thoughts off and watched how the taller woman got out the phone at last, frowning slightly when she saw who was calling.

"It's Willow", she then told the blonde, "I wonder why she'd call, she knows we're on patrol…"

"You'll find out when you take the call", Buffy pointed out the obvious, making the demon roll her eye again; then, she pushed the button which did just that and held the phone to her ear, but before she could say a word, Willow was already talking, sounding so frantic and upset that it made Pat's heart speed up.

"Where are you?!" the witch wanted to know, the noises in the background making it clear that she wasn't at home, but somewhere outside, "you didn't leave that cemetery you wanted to go to, right?"

"No", Pat gave back, trying hard to sound calming while her mind raced as she tried to figure out what might have happened, "we're on our way to the gate right now… Willow, what happened?"

"Anya called me", she replied, "I'll tell you everything once I've found you… Wait, I think I can see you…"

Before the demon had the chance to reply anything, the call was ended; she frowned as she put her phone away again, then spotted the familiar figure of Willow appearing in the distance, the witch waving frantically at them and prompting both Buffy and her to sped up. As they hurried towards her, Willow started walking faster as well; and just a few moments later, Pat saw to her shock that the redhead was crying, the gasp Buffy let out next to her making it clear that the blonde had noticed, as well.

"What happened?" the taller woman demanded to know as she finally reached the witch and immediately pulled her into a hopefully comforting embrace, "Willow, what's wrong?"

"Anya called", Willow brought out as she wiped off her tears, then returned the embrace, calmed by her partner's arms around her, "something… something's happened, when they both came home after going out for dinner, someone had planted a bomb in their home, they got out before it blew up but Xander's hurt and in the hospital…"

"Oh my God", Buffy breathed, shocked, "why would anyone do that? Is it bad?"

"I don't know", the witch mumbled, now sounding a bit less distraught than before, thanks to the fact that by now, Pat had started to rub her back soothingly, "Anya was too upset to tell me much…"

"We better get to the hospital", Buffy decided in reply, moving closer to Willow as well and placing a comforting hand on her arm, "is Anya still there?"

"I think so", Willow gave back, looking at her best friend in dismay, "and you're right, we should go there…"

"I'll call a taxi", Pat let them know, already getting out her phone once more, "fastest way to go there."

"Let's hope he's not hurt too bad", Buffy mumbled as she watched how the taller woman dialled the first taxi service number she could think of, "a bomb, for Christ's sake, who would do something like that?"

"Well, I do have an idea", Pat sighed, then momentarily fell silent as the call was taken; she quickly told the lady that she needed a cab sent to the cemetery gate, and if the dispatcher thought that this was weird, she at least was polite enough to stay quiet about it, merely telling the demon that it'd be there in five to seven minutes.

"Thanks", the demon gave back, then hung up and put the phone back into her pocket, looking at Buffy again afterwards and continuing where she had been interrupted by the cab dispatcher.

"As I said, I do have an idea", she repeated, making the blonde sigh as she knew where this was going, "people who like guns might also like bombs."

"But why them?" Buffy wanted to know in reply, nervously running one hand through her hair, "if he wants me, why not just put a bomb in my house and kill me that way?"

"Maybe he did and you just didn't find it yet because you're out here, on patrol", Pat pointed out, only to realize a second later that, even though Buffy wasn't home, the house wasn't even empty; before she could say anything about that though, the Slayer already had dug out her own phone and was dialling frantically, only to look slightly relieved half a minute later as Dawn took the call.

Quickly, she explained what had happened and that they were on the way to the hospital, holding back the fact that she had mostly called to find out if her sister had been blown to high heaven; shocked about the news, Dawn let her know that she'd meet them there, only to show that she knew Buffy quite well by asking if she thought she was in danger, too.

"I don't know", the Slayer had to admit, to her great dismay, "just… be careful, okay?"

"Of course", Dawn gave back, "and I'll meet you at the hospital… See you there…"

"Yes, see you there", Buffy agreed, then ended the call; and a few minutes later, the taxi case to a stop in front of them, all of them quickly getting into the vehicle and telling the driver where they wanted to go, the man merely nodding before he drove off, Buffy fidgeting in the front seat while in the back, Pat grasped Willow's hand and tried again to give her some comfort, the witch still quite upset about the fact that one of her best friends had been hurt and no one knew yet how badly.


	6. Chapter 6

"Anya", Buffy called out as she spotted the ex-demon sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the hallway, speeding up her steps so she was by her side faster, "how's Xander? Do you know anything yet?"

"No", Anya replied, getting up from her seat as she saw Pat and Willow approach, "not yet…"

"You're hurt, too", Willow realized with a mixture of shock and dismay, gesturing at the cut on the brunette's forehead and the thin trickle of blood which had seeped from it and dried on her cheek, "did you have that checked?"

"It's just a cut", Anya replied, shrugging, "I got it when I fell down, and I fell down because our apartment exploded! Why did our apartment explode?! The explosion made Xander fly all the way across the street!"

"Oh my God", Buffy breathed in reply, "Anya, I'm so sorry…"

"Yeah, you better be", the ex-demon snapped, now not just sounding upset anymore, but angry, "because this is your fault, it was that guy who's after you, wasn't it!"

"Hey", Pat butted in before Buffy had a chance to reply anything, "that's not her fault, and you know it. You're just lashing out because you're upset and scared."

"Look who's talking", Anya nearly spat in reply, now turning on her, "the last time Willow got hurt, you went out to kill the one who did it assassin-style! And you try to tell me how to react?"

"No", Pat shrugged, clearly not perturbed by the ex-demon's words, "I'm not trying to tell you how to react, I'm just telling you that blaming Buffy isn't exactly right and that it won't lead anywhere."

"…I know", Anya sighed out after a moment, slumping back down on the chair, "but Xander is hurt and I don't know how bad and it's all because of this guy…"

"And we'll find him", Buffy told her, giving the demon a brief grateful look for defusing the situation so neatly, "no worries. And then we'll make him pay for doing this to the two of you."

"Yes, we will", Willow nodded empathically, "and maybe we can tie him up so you can hit him a bit, too!"

"I'd like that", Anya grumbled, then one of the doors along the hallway opened and a doctor stepped outside, looking left and right before his gaze settled on the ex-demon and he moved over to her, asking her if she had come with Alexander Harris.

"Yes, how is he?" she demanded to know, coming to her feet again, her relief almost palpable when the doctor smiled in reply, all of them figuring that he wouldn't do that if it was really serious.

"I'm glad to tell you that nothing all too serious has happened to him", he let her know, motioning at her to sit down again and going on when she had done so. "This is not proper medical lingo, but let me just say that he got a bit banged up during his short… flight. A few cuts and bruises, which is to expect, a light concussion, why I suggest he stays here over night, and severely bruised ribs."

"Oh thank God", Anya sighed out, relieved, "I'm so happy to hear this! Can I see him?"

"Yes, of course, please come with me", the doctor replied, then led her off while Willow sank down on one of the chairs and let out a sigh, smiling up at the rest afterwards.

"I'm glad he's fine", she then stated the obvious, "it'd have been really bad if he'd been seriously hurt…"

"And now we'll all need to on the lookout", Pat added, sitting down next to her and putting one arm around her, making her smile weakly at her, "if he attacked Xander and Anya, he'll probably go after us, as well, even though I'd like to know why."

"To get to me, of course", Buffy replied tonelessly, suddenly sounding so depressed that it made both Pat and Willow look at her in alarm, "why else? He couldn't get me when he tried the first time, so now he's going after my friends…"

"We should offer Anya to stay with us", Willow replied after thinking about the blonde's words for a moment, "in case he tries anything, we can protect her, now that his bomb thing didn't work out so well."

"Unless there's a bomb in your place, too", Buffy gave back, her voice now changing from dismayed to snappy, surprising the couple, "what will you do then, huh? Get blown up like Xander and Anya nearly did?"

All they could do was stare at her in reply, not sure what to say to this; and after a few more moments, Buffy let out a sigh and started rubbing her temples, giving her friends another dismayed look.

"Sorry", she then apologized with another sigh, "I shouldn't snap at you like that… And yeah, you're right, Anya should stay with you, that's safer than being alone, in case he goes after her again when he sees he didn't kill them."

"Good thing the hospital here has security", Pat commented, "so at least Xander should be okay. As long as he stays here, that is, if they let him go back home tomorrow, he's of course welcome at our place as well."

"Thanks", Buffy smiled, clearly having regained her composure, "I'd offer my house so they won't have to crash on your couch, but, seeing he's after me, that might put them in even bigger danger…"

"Indeed", Pat nodded, deciding that she wouldn't point out the fact that, if the guy was going after the blonde's friends now, the danger might be just as big at their home; after all, Buffy only just had calmed down again, and she didn't want to upset her again right away.

"Let's hope Anya agrees", Willow now distracted her from these thoughts, "and that she doesn't get any weird ideas about going to a hotel or something."

"Nah, she won't, cause she'd have to pay for that", Pat smirked, in an attempt to lighten up the mood a bit; to her relief, it worked, since both Buffy and the witch smiled slightly, then made themselves as comfortable as possible on the plastic chairs the hospital was providing, waiting for Anya to join them again and tell them how exactly Xander was doing now.

* * *

"Okay, the couch isn't the most comfortable one in the world, but it should do", Willow let Anya know two hours later while she readied said couch for the ex-demon to sleep on it, "at least for a few nights, until you can get a new place."

"This really sucks", Anya complained in reply, now having gone back to being angry since she knew that Xander would be fine, "all our stuff was in that apartment, all our clothes and everything! He literally blew up everything we own!"

"If you need help replacing that stuff, I can help out with that", Pat let her know as she returned from the bedroom, carrying a blanket and a pillow, "just tell me, it's no problem, really."

"Lucky for us that we have a filthy rich friend", Anya replied to that, in a tone that made it hard to figure out if she was serious or sarcastic; momentarily, the demon gave her a hard look, then shrugged it off and figured that, after what had happened, the brunette had the right to let out a few zingers if that made her feel better.

"Yeah, lucky you", she thus just said, dropping the pillow and blanket on the now pulled out couch, "and now, we should all get some sleep, it's been quite the exciting night."

"You can say that again", Anya grumbled, making both Willow and Pat give her a sympathetic look; the witch still took the time to tell their friend that she should get them in case she needed anything or felt lonely, then retreated to the bedroom with her partner, letting out a small sigh the moment the door had closed behind her.

"Poor Anya", she then said as she started changing into her pyjama, "that must be really upsetting, I try to imagine how it has to feel if your home with all your stuff is blown up…"

"Yeah", Pat agreed, pulling off her clothes as well, "that must really suck, I hope they can get back on their feet from this."

"It was really nice of you to offer your help", the redhead smiled at her in reply, "they might really need some extra money to replace all they lost."

"Most likely", the demon nodded, finally getting done with changing and joining her partner in bed, "and I really don't mind, it's not like I don't have it. One of the advantages of being rich."

"What are the other ones?" Willow wanted to know with a smirk while she snuggled closer to the taller woman, her response making her giggle slightly. "Well, I don't really have to work so I can hang out here and annoy you all day long, and also, I can buy you nice things."

"You never annoy me", the witch pointed out in reply, smiling, "and even though the second point is a good one, I hope you know I'd also be with you if you couldn't buy me nice things."

"Of course", Pat reassured her, then leaned in for a short, but tender kiss; afterwards, she let out a hearty yawn, quite the clear signal that it was time to sleep now, the redhead momentarily smiling at the sight before she wished her partner a good night.

"Same to you", the demon yawned, letting out a snort when Willow giggled in reply; she still gave her a mock annoyed look, then they both closed their eyes and drifted off into slumber, both of them fast asleep just a few minutes later.


	7. Chapter 7

In the next morning, Willow had to get up early, since it was time to return to college and settle some things about her absence there; when the alarm clock rang, she let out a groan of dismay, not feeling like getting up at all after last night's excitement, but telling herself that she had too and thus forcing herself to get up after switching the alarm off.

Next to her, Pat let out a grunt and blinked at her sleepily, making her wonder if it had taken her that long to switch the alarm off; then, she shrugged it off and bent over the taller woman, kissing her tenderly before she told her in a low voice that she could go on sleeping and that she'd be back in the afternoon.

"Careful", the demon muttered in reply, the witch not having to ask what she was talking about; she nodded, then kissed her once more before she finally left the bedroom, to her surprise finding the couch empty – and Anya in the kitchen, the ex-demon busy with preparing coffee.

"Your alarm woke me up", she explained at the surprised look the redhead was giving her as she entered, "so I figured I might as well get up and do something useful. Something to distract me from the fact that all the things of Xander and me have been blown up."

"Xander can leave the hospital today, right?" Willow asked in reply, moving to the fridge and finding the glass of marmalade there she had been looking for; to her relief, Anya smiled and nodded, getting done with the coffee machine at last and sitting down at the kitchen table as she waited for the coffee to finish running through.

"Yes", she confirmed verbally as well, "and it's very nice of you that you're letting us stay here. But, you know, if Pat's not doing anything today, I wondered if she'd go apartment hunting with me, I really don't wanna do that alone with that maniac still out there and Xander will still need some rest."

"I don't think she has any plans", Willow shrugged in reply, "so I don't see why she wouldn't."

"It was really nice of her to offer helping us out with money", Anya mused in reply, her gaze fixed on the coffee machine as if that would make it get done faster, "we've got some savings, you know, but not enough to pay for a completely new apartment and all the stuff we'll need and everything."

"I imagine", Willow grimaced, "yesterday before we went to bed, I was talking to Pat about how awful it is that this happened to you, I don't even want to imagine it… all the things you accumulate in your place over the years, and then someone just comes along and blows it up and it's gone within seconds."

"Stupid man going after us instead of Buffy", Anya grumbled in reply, only to hurriedly speak on when Willow raised an eyebrow at her, eager to get her point across. "I mean, not that I want him to blow up Buffy's house, that would be really bad, too, but I really don't see why he tried to kill us, I mean, that won't help him with killing Buffy, right?"

"Apparently he thinks it does", the redhead gave back, finishing with spreading the marmalade on the slice of bread she had helped herself to and sitting down at the table as well, "Buffy thinks he did to get to her, so we'll have to be extra-careful, in case he goes after us again."

"Let's hope he goes after Pat", Anya grimly gave back, her next words making the witch smile slightly, "because then, he'll have his ass kicked. And burned."

"Or he'll come after me and I'll turn him into a frog", Willow giggled, making it Anya's turn to raise an eyebrow, her voice curious when she replied. "Frogs? I thought you're afraid of frogs."

"Oh, I am", the redhead confirmed, "so, if I turn him into a frog, I'll freak out then and stomp the frog to death. Or throw something really heavy at it. Or screech for Pat so she'll come running and kill it."

"Yes, that might work", Anya agreed after thinking about the scenario for a moment, smiling at the witch; glad that she had managed to make her feel better, Willow smiled back at her, then got up from her seat as the coffee machine had ceased its blubbering and hissing, the silence signalling that the coffee was done, both Anya and the redhead helping themselves to cups of the black liquid before they sat down again and moved their conversation to mindless small talk until it was time for the witch to go through her morning hygiene and to leave for college.

* * *

"This is the nicest place we looked at so far", Anya let Pat know as they left the fourth apartment on their list, the real estate agent smiling happily at hearing those words, "if Xander likes it too, we should take it. Can I come back here with my boyfriend once he feels better and let him look at it? He's…" "…sick", Pat interrupted her before she could say too much of the truth, "her boyfriend is sick."

"I would have said that", Anya whispered to her as the real estate agent checked her calendar, "do you think I'm dumb?"

"No", Pat whispered back, "but sometimes, you're brutally honest. Sorry."

"If you like and if your boyfriend feels better until then", the real estate agent regained their attention, "you can come by again on Thursday afternoon, is this alright with you?"

"Sure, just fine", Anya beamed at her, "will you hold the place back until then?"

"Of course", the agent smiled, already having dollar signs in her eyes, "it's no problem, really. Is three o'clock fine for you?"

"Perfect", the ex-demon reassured her, "but let me give you my card in case anything changes, okay?"

"You have a card?" Pat wanted to know, surprised, while Anya dug out one of said cards and handed it to the elder woman, then looked up at the demon and nodded, sounding mildly surprised when she replied. "Of course I do. I'm a business owner, so I have a card. That's the American thing to do, right? You should get a card, too!"

"But I don't own a business", the demon replied, even though that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.

"Oh, right", Anya realized, the estate agent watching this exchange with amusement while she tugged the card into her calendar; then, she asked if Anya wanted to look at another apartment, making the brunette shake her head.

"No, not for now", she then said, "now, I just want to wait for Thursday so I can show this place to my boyfriend."

"Alright then", the estate agent gave back, "just let me find my card for you, too, then, in case something comes up, just give me a call, alright?"

And with those words, she dug out said card and handed it to Anya; the brunette smiled brightly at her and thanked her, putting the card into her wallet, then looked up at Pat and asked if she was ready to go back home.

"Sure, ready when you are", the demon shrugged, asking herself why exactly Anya was asking her this, after all, it was her who had to find a new place; then, she shrugged it off and smiled at the brunette, who grinned back after a moment, still visibly happy about the place she had found.

"It was so nice of you to come along", she let Pat know after they had parted ways with the estate agent, "I was really worried that this man might try to attack again if I'd gone out alone."

"Yeah, who knows what he might get into his head", the demon agreed, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up as they made their way down the street together, "I just hope he didn't have the idea to drop by at college and bother Willow."

"Well, she's like a super-witch, so no trouble there, right?" Anya wanted to know in reply, "she can just fry him or whatever, especially now that she's got her evil side under control again."

"It wasn't exactly her evil side", the demon corrected, "more like some evil inside her. Good thing it's under control again, cause it liked to pin people to the ceiling and throw them through the room."

"And it made part of your hair go grey", Anya felt the need to remind her of that unpleasant fact, "I bet Willow was happy that this just vanished again after a while, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so", Pat agreed, smirking, "at least she seemed quite relieved at the airport."

"I bet she showed you how happy she was when you were back home", the ex-demon winked, making the taller woman roll her good eye before she replied, her voice now bone-dry. "No matter how subtle you try to be, Anya, which isn't working out very well anyway, I'm not gonna tell you about our sex life."

"Hmph", Anya let out in reply, "I don't see why not. I tell you about Xander's and mine all the time!"

"And you surely remember that we always tell you to cut it out and never asked you about it", Pat reminded her, unimpressed, "and anyway, why do you want to know about that? I don't see why this is so interesting to you."

"Just curious", Anya shrugged, "but if you don't wanna tell, fine. Maybe I'll just ask Willow."

"You absolutely will not", Pat told her at once, "just drop it, okay? Or else I'll—"

Anya never found out what the demon would do if she wouldn't drop that topic, since right in this moment, they rounded the corner to the street where their apartment building was located – and both spotted the ambulance standing in front of said building, the red and blue lights flashing, the back doors opened and waiting for whoever they were going to bring outside.

"I have a bad feeling about this", Pat let Anya know, sounding so worried that it made Anya nervous as well, "come on, hurry up…" With those words, she already was speeding up, making it hard for the smaller Anya to keep up with her; and half a minute later, the door leading to the apartment building was pushed open and two men came hurrying outside, carrying a stretcher between them, this and their uniforms easily identifying them as ambulance man.

"Oh God no", Anya heard Pat wheeze beside her in an oddly strangled voice, her own eyes going wide as she realized who was lying on that stretcher, despite all the blood obscuring the woman's face, "Willow…!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh thank God, there you are", one of the small group of spectators standing on the sidewalk cried out as he spotted the demon move closer, the taller woman recognizing him as one of their neighbours after a moment; they never really had had much contact, but whenever they met in the hallway, they greeted each other politely, and so far, he never had complained about fighting noises which sometimes came from their apartment, which gave him bonus points in Pat's book.

"What happened?" the demon croaked, not even looking at him, unable to take her gaze off of Willow; the redhead looked as if she had taken the most vicious beating of her life, blood streaming down her face from numerous cuts and scratches, and the skin which was visible through the small rivulets of blood was bruised and discoloured, the swelling of her nose and part of her jaw showing that bones had been broken, as well.

"I'm not sure", the man replied, watching how the ambulance men carefully loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance car, "there was a lot of commotion at your place, but, you know, that happened before, so I didn't think much about it, but then I heard poor Willow here scream and when I went to check, she… she just came kinda crashing through the door and nearly knocked me over."

"Did you see anything else?" Anya wanted to know while Pat finally regained enough of her composure to rush over to the ambulance and climb inside, snapping at the slightly stunned ambulance men that she was their patient's girlfriend before they even had a chance to say anything; and clearly, none of them was in the mood to discuss this with her, since they both just nodded after a moment, merely asking her to sit down so they could go on with the first aid the witch needed before they'd even get to the hospital.

"Willow, Sweetie, can you hear me?" Pat tried to find out if her partner was awake or if she had been knocked out after fulfilling the ambulance man's request and having moved to the seat at the head end of the stretcher; to her endless dismay, the witch didn't reply, but only let out a weak groan, a noise which might have been caused by her general pain and not in reaction to the demon's words.

"Pat!" Anya's voice now distracted her from the witch's state, making her look over at the brunette, "I'll meet you at the hospital! And I'll call the others!"

"Alright", the taller woman gave back, then immediately focused on her partner again while the ambulance men got done with the first aid and one of them pulled the car's back doors shut, then told the waiting driver that they could go; nodding, the man started the engine and stepped down on the gas pedal while Pat, after an encouraging nod from one of the medics, grasped her partner's hand, momentarily relieved when in response, Willow opened her eyes as far as she could – something which was made considerably harder by all the bruising and swelling – and her gaze focused on her, slightly dazed, but clearly recognizing her.

"Hey", the demon immediately said, not wanting her to slip off into unconsciousness again, and forcing a smile that felt way too fake on her face, "Sweetie… Hang in there, we're taking you to the hospital, you'll be okay…"

"Human", the redhead mumbled in reply, her voice so weak and hoarse that it broke Pat's heart, the taller woman squeezing her hand tenderly as she tried to figure out what she was talking about – before it hit her, her good eye briefly widening as she realized why exactly the assailant had been able to beat her partner up so horribly.

"Hush", she thus quickly said when the witch looked as if she wanted to say something else, "don't talk, I know what you mean, and you're hurt…"

"Hurts", the witch confirmed in reply, letting out a small whimper afterwards that made the demon's heart clench up once more; still forcing herself to keep the smile on her face, she nodded, eager to reach out and caress her hair, but afraid that this might cause her even more pain and thus keeping herself from doing so.

"I know", she said in the kindest voice she managed instead, the ambulance man briefly looking at them before he focused on his work again, "but you'll be okay, we're taking you to the hospital and you'll be okay."

Somehow, despite her obvious pain and her numerous injuries, Willow managed a weak smile in reply; squeezing her hand once more, Pat bent over to tenderly kiss her on the forehead, then just sat there holding her hand and looking at her, giving her best to hide her concerns and dismay until the ambulance car finally arrived at the hospital.

* * *

Buffy never had been all too fond of hospitals, but by now, her dislike of them had sunk to a new low; this was mostly to blame on the fact that during the last twenty-four hours, her two best friends had ended up in a hospital, and even though Xander by now had been allowed to go home again, she knew that this wouldn't happen for Willow so quickly the moment she found Pat in the hallway and saw the look on the taller woman's face.

"How bad is it?" she demanded to know at once, her concern only growing when the demon shrugged in reply, giving her a helpless look while she got up from her seat so the Slayer could pull her into a comforting hug, Dawn following suit a moment later.

"I don't know", the taller woman sighed out after the hugging had been finished, slumping down on her chair again, "it looked pretty bad when they were taking her here, but there was a lot of blood, so it might have looked worse than it really is… head wounds tend to bleed a lot, don't they?"

"Yes", Buffy told her what she obviously needed to hear, "and I'm sure Willow will be okay… I just don't understand why this guy could get to her like this, I mean, she's a witch, the strongest witch on this planet perhaps, so…"

"Because he's human", the demon mumbled in reply, giving her another unhappy look, "she told me so in the ambulance car. And you know that after Warren, she never wanted to use her powers against a human again…"

"But he was hurting her", Dawn pointed out, clearly not understanding this, "why wouldn't she fight back then?"

"Maybe he overpowered her too fast, how am I supposed to know, I wasn't there", Pat snapped at her in reply, only to regret the sharp tone of her voice instantly when she saw the younger girl's face fall.

"Sorry", she thus went on, giving the teenager an apologetic look, "but… I should have been there…"

"I'm sorry, too", Anya threw in, sounding so sincere that it made them all look at her, "if I hadn't asked you to go apartment hunting with me, you would have been at home when he came, and could have protected Willow…"

"Let's not play the blame game", Buffy threw in before this could go any further, "this isn't leading anywhere. We have to figure out how to find this guy before he does even more damage."

"That might be harder than we realize right now", Pat pointed out, clearly glad about the topic as it distracted her from her worries about Willow, even though they never left her mind fully, "he's human, so the locator spell won't work, and unless Willow got a good look at him we have no idea what he looks like."

"Not what I wanted to hear", Buffy grumbled, her frown deepening when the demon just shrugged in reply; for a moment, the blonde stood still, then started pacing up and down, running both hands through her hair, the rest of the small group watching her in silence.

"There has to be some way to find him", she stated, looking from one of her friends to the next, "Pat, you've been an assassin for like two centuries, you should be able to do that!"

"Why don't you repeat that a bit louder, I'm not sure the whole hospital heard you yet", the taller woman gave back dryly, making Buffy gulp as she realized how loud she actually had been, "and even I have a hard time finding someone without knowing what they look like."

"We'll have to wait until we can see Willow then so we can ask her if she remembers him", the Slayer suggested in reply, glad when Pat nodded – for a moment, she had feared that the taller woman would tell her she wouldn't go anywhere until the redhead was feeling better, but clearly, her desire for vengeance was strong again, as it always was whenever someone made the mistake to hurt her partner.

"And if she does, that guy will pray he never laid a finger on her", the demon now confirmed that impression, "and you, Buffy, won't give me any crap about how he's a human when I start breaking bones. Are we clear on this?"

"I should say no to this and scold you", the blonde gave back, a slightly malicious smirk forming on her face that made Pat smile in quite the similar way, the sight obviously unsettling Dawn and Anya at least a bit, "but after all he did? I'll give you helpful hints and tips."

"As if I'd need them", the black haired woman dryly replied, "demon, remember? Violence is part of my nature."

"Don't let Giles hear you talk like this", Anya finally managed to throw in, "because he wouldn't be happy to hear that. Like, at all."

"Probably not", Pat agreed after a moment, exchanging another look with the Slayer, "but I'm not happy whenever someone harms my girlfriend, and I assume Buffy doesn't like to see her best friends get hurt, either. That guy's messing with the wrong persons."

"I never would have guessed", Dawn mumbled, shrugging at the look she received from her sister for this comment; then, the door leading to the room where Willow had been taken for treatment opened and the doctor stepped into the hallway, to everyone's surprise turning out to be the same man who had treated Xander the night before.

Clearly, he was surprised as well about who the people waiting for news on the injured redhead were; his steps faltered for a moment, then he regained his composure and smiled at the waiting women, moving closer to them, his first comment forcing Pat to hold back a snarky reply since she wasn't interested in small talk, but only in how her partner was doing. "Seems like your little group attracts bad luck these days."

"Indeed", the demon grumbled, "so how is she? Will she be okay?"

"Yes", the doctor reassured her at once, to her obvious relief, "the beating she took was quite severe, resulting in several broken bones and internal bleeding, so she'll have to stay here for a while. May I ask in which way you are related to her?"

"I'm her girlfriend", Pat let him know, giving him a look which made it clear that he wouldn't like what would happen if he'd try to pull any crap now; to her relief, he did no such thing, but just nodded after a moment, giving her yet another smile before he spoke on.

"As I said, she will have to stay here for a while, at least until we can be sure that the internal injuries are healed", he let her know, the taller woman hiding her dismay about the fact that now, she just couldn't do the spell which would let Willow borrow her healing – they had gotten away with it once when she had been stabbed in the stomach, but she doubted it would work out a second time and didn't want to push their luck, not with the threat of the assailant still out there.

"She's stable now, though", the doctor went on, regaining her attention, "so, if you'd like, you can see her."

"Yes, of course", Pat gave back once, then briefly glanced at the others; all of them nodded, and she gave them a grateful look before she asked the doctor to take her to Willow, making him nod before he walked off, the demon following him, her desire for vengeance pushed aside again by the worry which was welling up within her once more, even though the doctor already had told her that her partner would be fine in the end.


	9. Chapter 9

Up until this moment, Pat had been able to convince herself that, due to all the blood, it had looked much worse than it was; now as she entered the hospital room though, she was forced to acknowledge that it had been as bad as it had looked, her heart cramping up at the sight of her partner's bruised and swollen face.

"That bastard", she mumbled to herself, not sure if Willow was unconscious or asleep, not wanting to risk waking her up if the second option was the correct one; to her surprise, the redhead reacted immediately to her words, opening her eyes and looking at her, even managing another weak smile.

"Hey", the black haired woman said, not all too smart, but she supposed that it was a good thing she hadn't ended up speechless as she moved over to the bed and sat down on the chair next to it, "how're you feeling?"

"As if someone beat me up", Willow mumbled in reply, the whole situation and their talk causing Pat to momentarily flash back to the last time she had seen the redhead in the hospital like this, shortly after the fact that she was a demon and an assassin had been revealed to the group and after Willow and she had recovered from the brief break-up this had caused.

"Just like shortly after we started dating, huh", the witch now mumbled, surprising her for a second – before she smiled and nodded, reaching out to grasp her hand and in a not fully serious tone asking her if she was reading her mind.

"Not much for the mojo right now", Willow muttered in reply, grimacing slightly afterwards, "the doc said he gave me some painkiller, but so far, it seems it hasn't kicked in yet."

"Poor you", the demon immediately showed some sympathy, giving her hand yet another gentle squeeze, "I'm going to make him pay for this, I swear. I already made Buffy promise that she won't stop me once we found him and I start breaking bones."

"Seeing he's a perfectly normal human, I shouldn't approve of this", the witch gave back, then winced, making Pat wonder if talking actually hurt her, "but after what he did to Anya and Xander, not to mention me, I can't say I mind the thought."

"Anya advised us to not let Giles find out", the taller woman smirked in reply, "because he surely would. Especially if the guy is a human."

"He is", Willow confirmed, glad that finally, the painkiller was kicking in and numbing the numerous aches all over her body, "fast, and strong… But human…"

"I know you need some rest", Pat replied, now having stopped squeezing her hand and having moved on to caress the back of it with her thumb, "but I need to know what he looks like. Can you describe him…?"

"Give me five more minutes and I can do more than that", Willow replied after a moment, "the painkiller is finally working, and once it kicked in fully, I can let you look into my mind…"

"That works, too", the demon agreed after a moment, then gave her a concerned look, the same emotion in her voice when she spoke on. "But are you sure this is a good idea? You're really hurt, honey…"

"I know", the redhead gave back, smiling weakly again and ignoring the pain this brought up in her jaw despite the painkiller, pretty sure by now that said bone had been broken at least once, "but you need to find him quickly, right? And getting a good look at him will be better than any description I can give you."

"Which is a very good point, as you know yourself or you wouldn't have made it", Pat sighed in reply, "but I don't want to endanger you even further. What if something goes wrong and you'll end up hurt even worse?"

"I know how to do the spell", Willow reassured her, now making it her turn to give the taller woman's hand a tender squeeze, "and I want you to find this guy fast, before he hurts anyone else of us. Like you, or Buffy, or Dawn."

"I almost hope he'll come after me next", Pat grumbled in reply, her anger at the man once more taking over, "because then, he'll be in for a world of hurt. Unlike you, I have no reservations about hurting humans."

"I know", the witch gave back, smiling slightly again, "but let me reassure you, after how he kicked my ass, I'd have no problems with hurting him, either, should he come after me again. In fact, I would have done that already if he hadn't been so quick. Are you ready to look at it?"

"I don't think I'll ever be _ready_ for a first-hand view of my girlfriend getting beaten up", Pat replied, somehow managing to sound dry and concerned at the same time, which was quite the feat, "but, if you feel you're up to it, yeah, let's go for it…"

"Alright", Willow mumbled in reply, briefly closing her eyes to focus, "move closer then please, and try to open your mind…"

Letting out some agreeing noise, the demon tried to do just that as she leaned closer to her partner; with a deep breath, Willow reached up to take the taller woman's head into her hands, closing her eyes as she focused, concentrated on the spell she had to perform to let her girlfriend see. So far, they only had done this twice, and it had been the other way round, with Willow looking into Pat's mind; still she had read up on performing the spell the opposite direction, mumbling the words to herself now and feeling how the energy built up, and suddenly, Pat let out a strangled gasp, her head snapping back into her neck, seeing through Willow's eyes how—

_-how she opened the door after the quite persistent knocking, for some reason sure it was Anya coming back from the apartment hunt, maybe Pat had gotten called by Buffy and had sent her back here alone, but instead, it was a man, and after a second, she recognized him as the one who had tried to shoot Buffy, having a moment to take in the messy blonde hair, so blonde it was almost white, absurdly reminding her of Spike, and the scar which ran down his cheek before he punched her, hard, right in the face, a cry escaping her as she felt her nose break beneath his fist. _

"_Sorry 'bout that", he said with a twinkle in his strangely pale grey eyes that showed he wasn't sorry at all, "but you're in the way." And then he was in the apartment and had slammed the door close and was beating down on her and when she went down he kicked her and then he flipped her over on her stomach and sat on her back, grabbing her hair and slamming her head down again and again, laughing the whole time, until his laughter and her pain were all that her world was made off…_

The connection ended much more abrupt and rougher than Willow would have liked, namely by Pat jerking her whole body backwards, getting her head out of the witch's grasp; for a few seconds, the demon just stared at her, then suddenly came to her feet surprisingly quick and rushed into the adjoined bathroom, the redhead grimacing when she heard the unmistakable sounds of puking, feeling bad about the memories causing such a violent reaction from her partner.

To her great dismay, the puking went on for a few more minutes; then, finally, it stopped and the sound of the toilet being flushed came from the bathroom, followed by running water, Pat stepping outside again moments later, wiping her mouth and looking a bit sheepish.

"Sorry about that", Willow and she said at the same time, exchanging a startled glance afterwards; then, the demon smiled slightly and moved back to the chair, sitting down on it again and taking hold of her partner's hand once more.

"I didn't expect you to react so strongly", Willow let her partner know as soon as they both had made themselves more or less comfortable again, "if I had known that, I wouldn't have done it…"

"Well, at least I got a good look at him", Pat replied with a lopsided smirk, "that tacky hair and the scar will be hard to miss. I wonder though what he meant when he said you were in the way."

"In the way of killing Buffy, perhaps", the witch shrugged, a movement she regretted instantly as it brought up fresh pain in her upper body, "maybe he knows what I am."

"I hope not", Pat grimaced, "because then he would probably know I'm a demon, too, and might… adjust his attack on me. Not that I'm scared, mind you, it just might make things harder than they could be."

"Of course you're not scared", Willow smiled, forgetting her pain momentarily as she marvelled at how protective her partner still was of her, after all these years, "you're just pissed at him for hurting me, I can practically feel that. I'm just glad you don't blame yourself this time."

"Well, I do, a little", the demon admitted in reply, not really surprising her girlfriend, "but Buffy helpfully pointed out that this isn't leading anywhere, and anyway, my desire to kick that guy's ass is much, much stronger."

"And kick his ass you will", Willow nodded, clearly not doubting this fact for even a second, "but now, let's forget about that guy, because I want you to kiss me and make me feel much better."

"You know I'll never say no to that", Pat smirked in reply, momentarily not sure though if this was such a good idea; then, she told herself that Willow wouldn't ask her for this if it'd give her pain and bent over her to kiss her tenderly, the witch immediately responding to the kiss and even bringing up her less hurting arm to wrap it around the demon, holding her close as the kiss deepened, successfully pushing all the pain away.


	10. Chapter 10

"You know, I'm kinda glad you're both staying here", Pat let both Xander and Anya know as she returned to the apartment with them; if it had been possible, she would have stayed at the hospital all night, but the doctor had made it quite clear that he had no intention of letting this happen and that she had to leave when the visiting hours ended, not even giving in when she gave him her best death glare, merely explaining that his patient needed a proper night of rest.

"It'd really suck if I was here all alone today, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about what happened", she went on, briefly looking in dismay at the ruined door and asking herself how to bar it up for the night, "so I'm glad you guys… are…" She trailed off as she entered the hallway and saw the shockingly big bloodstain which had dried on the wooden floor there, remembering what she had seen when Willow had let her look into her memories, how the assailant had grabbed her and smashed her head against said floor numerous times.

"So, hey, about that door", Xander spoke up behind her, gently pushing her to move on and past the bloodstain, the demon smiling weakly as she realized what he was doing, "we should bar that up for the night, we don't want any nasty burglars to enter, right?"

"Right", the demon agreed, letting the young man push her past the stain and then taking the initiative again by walking on a bit faster, getting his hands off her back, "and we better… clean that up."

"I'll do that!" Anya piped up immediately, shrugging at the surprising look this earned her from both her boyfriend and Pat, sounding just a tad defensive when she spoke on. "What? I want to be useful, because even though Buffy said I shouldn't, I still feel a bit bad about what happened to Willow. Maybe cleaning that up will help with that."

"Hey, if I'm not allowed to feel guilty, neither are you", Pat gave back, smiling slightly at her, "but of course that doesn't mean I'll stop you from cleaning that up."

"Of course not", Anya rolled her eyes; for a moment, Xander feared that this reaction might cause a slightly unfriendly one from Pat as well, but then, to his amazement, the two women grinned at each other before they made their way to the kitchen together where the demon found a bucket for the brunette, filling it with hot water and adding a generous splash of cleaner.

"There you go", she then said, handing the bucket to the ex-demon, along with a sponge; smiling brightly at her, Anya hurried off to start cleaning while Xander looked at the demon again, sounding mildly amused when he asked her if she had any wooden boards lying around they could use to bar up the door.

"Well, as any normal person presumably would say, no, I don't", the taller woman smirked in reply, "but we can look in the cellar, maybe we'll find some there."

"If not, I can drop by at the construction site I'm currently working on and sneak some out of there", Xander grinned, already moving towards the door again; nodding, Pat followed him, and they made their way into the cellar together while Anya remained upstairs, scrubbing furiously.

"So", the young man started as they walked down the stairs, "now I'm out of the hospital, but Willow's in it. How is she doing?"

"He beat her up quite badly", Pat sighed out in reply, stopping in front of the door leading to the cellar and starting to go through the keys on her key ring as she searched for the right one, "and I got a first hand view of it, she let me look into her memories so I'd know what he looks like."

"Oh man, that must have been harsh", Xander grimaced, "don't get me wrong, I'm all for action flicks, but that takes it a bit too far."

"Indeed it did", Pat agreed, finally finding the right key and unlocking the cellar door, "it actually made me puke."

"And I imagine there are not many things which can make a demon as old as you puke", Xander grimaced, "so I have a pretty good mental image of how bad that beating must have been. Not to mention that bloodstain in the hallway."

"You make it sound as if I'm like a thousand years old", Pat grumbled, looking for boards they could use to more or less fix the door in the quite messy cellar, "and, just for your information, there are other things which make me… puke…"

She trailed off as a familiar spell reached her nostrils, sniffing audibly and holding up her hand to keep Xander quiet when he started to say something; frowning to herself, she sniffed again, then told the young man to step back, something he did immediately, by now knowing her well enough to know that she usually had a good reason for telling him to do so.

Just a few seconds later, he saw why exactly she had asked him to move back; she clenched her fists and let out a satisfied sounding grunt as she started to change into her "furrier form", as Buffy usually put it, to his relief quickly toning down her flames and then letting them vanish, not wanting to set the cellar on fire.

Sniffing audibly again, she squinted as she focused fully on what her now enhanced sense of smell was telling her; and then she started moving, deeper into the cluttered cellar, Xander picking up the first weapon-like object he could find and following her, with the rusty metal pipe he had gotten his hands on raised to shoulder height.

"What are you smelling?" he asked in a hushed voice, "vampire?"

"No", Pat grumbled, "nothing supernatural… human…"

"And that is a reason to demon out why?" the young man wanted to know, glancing around nervously, suddenly realizing how many dark corners the clutter in the cellar was providing to hide in, the demon giving him a brief glance before she explained, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground now.

"Because no one ever goes down here", she let him know, "just look at all the stuff here. And I smell food and cigarette smoke, and even if someone ever would come down here, they wouldn't stay long enough to eat."

"That makes sense", Xander had to admit, going back to looking around nervously, "so who do you think…"

A soft, but audible _twang _interrupted him, and he automatically looked up, later not even sure why he had done so; in this case, it turned out to be lucky though, as he had moved his gaze to the low ceiling just in time to see the axe come swinging down, an axe Pat clearly was missing since she was still staring at the thin length of thread her leg just had torn in two.

"Get _down_!" Xander shouted, at the same time launching himself forward and tackling her, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the axe actually slice off the ends of his hair as he went to the ground with the demon.

"Oh for fuck's sake", Pat grumbled, looking at the weapon as it slowly swung back and forth above them until it came to a stop, "a goddamn booby trap? And I missed it like that? What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Language", Xander took over Willow's part as he rolled off the taller woman and made it possible for her to get up as well, "and, well, I guess we all have our bad days, huh?"

"I was so focused on the smell that I didn't even pay attention", Pat gave back with a roll of her good eye, "if it hadn't been for you… thanks, mate."

"Welcome", the young man beamed, even though by now, his hands had started to shake as the adrenaline rush wore off and he realized how close he had been to having his head sliced in two, "I'm glad I could save your life for once, after you saved mine like a thousand times by now."

"I'm glad about that, too", Pat smirked at him, looking at the axe for a moment longer before she moved passed it, "and this booby trap makes it quite obvious that someone who's not supposed to be here has been hanging around here lately."

"Also, the mattress there is a pretty good hint", Xander added, pointing said mattress out; it was clearly new, but had been slept on, a surprisingly large number of empty pizza and take out boxes making it obvious that whoever had been using it had been around for quite a while.

"Looks like someone set up shop in here", the young man commented, poking one of the empty pizza boxes with his foot, "a hobo, maybe?"

"No, I don't think so", Pat gave back, sounding thoughtful as she returned to her human form and knelt down next to the mattress, then lifted it, exposing the shockingly big arsenal of guns and knives hidden clumsily beneath it, Xander's eyes going wide at the sight.

"Hobos don't usually walk around armed to the teeth", she added, letting the mattress drop back down and coming to her feet, "and I think I already know who has been hiding out here. We better go and tell the others."

Nodding, Xander threw another look at the weapon arsenal, then Pat let the mattress drop back down and obscured it from view; then, without another word, she turned and walked back to the cellar door, snatching the axe from the thread it had been hanging on without missing a beat, leaving the cellar again with Xander in tow a minute later and heading upstairs to get Anya and to drop the axe in the apartment before they left for the hospital, calling everyone else of the group on the way there.


	11. Chapter 11

"So he's been hiding out in your cellar for God knows how long?" Buffy repeated in disbelief after Pat and Xander had told the group everything about their discovery, "but that doesn't make any sense. Why wait so long to strike if he's been there all along?"

"Well, he doesn't seem exactly stable now, does he", Willow threw in, thanks to the strong pain killers she had been given not all too long ago able to talk without feeling any pain, "or maybe he's better at what he's doing than we think right now and was trying to learn your patterns. Or the patterns of all of us."

"That doesn't make sense", Buffy pointed out, frowning, Giles nodding his agreement next to her, "if he took all this time to learn patterns, mine or those of all of us, why would he just run at us at the airport and try to shoot me there? Why not snipe me through the window of my house or something?"

"Well, there was no sniper rifle under his mattress", Xander pointed out, "just regular handguns, various calibres, and a shotgun. So maybe he doesn't own one."

When he realized that everyone was looking at him oddly, he raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before he could ask what the reason for the stare fest was, Pat spoke up, frowning slightly as she asked him how he could know about the calibres of the guns if he only had looked at them for a few moments.

"Army guy knowledge", he shrugged, "Halloween, remember? Oh, wait, you don't, you weren't around. Well, we all got turned into our costumes, so I got turned into this uber-soldier-type-guy, you know, G.I. Joe-like, and some of the stuff just stuck."

"Oh", the demon replied, "interesting. Willow, what did you go as that year?"

"A ghost", Willow replied, "with rather… skanky clothing."

"Hey, you were hot", Buffy defended which had been her costume idea all those years ago, "but, anyway, back to topic? We got a scary guy out there who's been living in the cellar of Pat and Willow's building for quite some time now, probably watching all of us."

"You didn't take time to search for any clues about him, did you", Giles wanted to know before anyone could say anything else, looking first at Pat, then at Xander, not surprised when they both shook their head.

"Our first thought was to get out of there, because it was kind of creepy", Xander then let him know, "not to mention we nearly had our heads cut off by that booby trap. You think we should go back and look for clues?"

"It might be useful", Giles nodded in reply, "and we should start taking a more pro-active stance about this, instead of just waiting for him to attack again. I suggest that you, Buffy, go there with Pat, in case he happens to be there when you arrive, so you can take him out easily."

"Easily if he doesn't get one of his guns first", the demon reminded him of the not exactly small stash of weapons they had found, "but yeah, going there with Buffy sounds like a plan. You in, Buff?"

"Of course I am", Buffy gave back at once, smiling, "I'm itching to beat up this guy as much as you are."

"Please, in case you happen to run into him now, remember he's human", Giles sighed, in an exasperated tone that made it obvious to the demon it wasn't the first time he was saying this, the way he rolled his eyes when Buffy just shrugged telling her that the Slayer's reaction wasn't a first, either.

"He might be human", Pat said before the blonde had a chance to, "but after what he tried to do to Buffy, and after what he actually did to Xander, Anya and Willow, you'll surely understand that sending him to prison barely is an option."

"I do understand", the Watcher gave back, eying her as he chose his next carefully, "and I'm well aware of how… strong your emotions tend to get whenever someone harms Willow, but you do know that the Slayer is not permitted to kill humans, are you?"

"Of course", Pat replied, smirking, after all, Giles had basically just given her the perfect way to respond, "but, lucky for us, I'm a demon, and I have no such problems."

"I walked right into that one, didn't I", the Brit sighed, rolling his eyes when the demon just gave him a smug smile in reply; he let out another sigh and took off his glasses, not making any more comments though, merely nodding when Buffy let him know they'd be going, then.

"Take care", Willow threw in, making it the turn of the both the Slayer and the demon to nod; Pat still took the time to bend over her bed and quickly, but tenderly kiss her partner, then she left the room with Buffy, the blonde giggling the moment the door had closed behind them.

"Ever since I told Giles that our culprit is human, he keeps reminding me I can't kill him", she then told the demon what already had been suspected by her, anyway, "and he keeps forgetting – or, maybe, repressing is a better word – that you, as a demon, have no such troubles."

"Repressing is the better word, I guess", Pat smirked, making Buffy nod with another giggle; then, she grew serious again, asking how they should take that guy down in case he'd be there and get to his guns before they could stop him.

"I'd suggest bullet-proof vests, but it might be hard to get those", the demon sighed in reply, "so we'll just have to be quick in case he's there, maybe you should let me take the front, if he shoots me, I can heal it."

"Yeah, unless he shoots you in the spine so you can't get up anymore, or something similarly dreadful", Buffy pointed out a possibly fatal flaw in that plan, making the taller woman grimace slightly.

"Let's worry about that once we know if he's even there", she decided after a moment, "maybe we're getting all plan-y and nervous for nothing."

"I hope so", the blonde sighed, then stopped a cab and got into it with the black haired woman, giving the driver the address of the couple before she made herself comfortable in the seat.

Since their current topic wasn't proper conversation for the taxi driver to hear, they both remained quiet during the ride; once the taxi stopped in front of the apartment building, Pat paid the driver, giving him a quiet generous tip, then both of them got out of the car and headed inside, the demon leading the way to the cellar.

"We better be as quiet as we can", she whispered as she slowly pushed the door open, glad she hadn't locked it again after leaving with Xander – and briefly wondering how the guy had gotten a key, then shrugging it off, figuring that someone who was out to kill Buffy wouldn't have trouble stealing from someone uninvolved – "just in case he's around."

Nodding, Buffy made sure to stay close behind her; they both moved as quietly as they could, the demon to her happiness remembering where the booby trap had been located and noticing that it hadn't been reset, hoping that it wasn't just the lack of the axe which had prevented that, but that the reason for this was that the man hadn't returned to his lair since it had been discovered.

"Ew", Buffy mumbled as she saw the mattress and the empty food boxes all around it, "has he never heard of cleaning up?"

"Apparently not", Pat commented, "let's hope that any clues he might have are not hidden beneath all that trash, I don't wanna stick my fingers into anything gooey and gross and mouldy."

"Since when are you grossed out so easily?" Buffy teased, then gave the mattress a thoughtful look – before she started to smile, moving closer to it and kneeling down next to it.

"What are you doing?" Pat wanted to know, watching her curiously; briefly, the blonde looked up at her, a mischief sparkle in her eyes now as she replied. "Well, it's been a while since you were sixteen, so maybe you forgot, but… Best place to hide stuff in that age? Your own mattress. Just let me check…"

With those words, she started running her hands over the seams of the mattress, the black haired woman watching with interest; and suddenly, the Slayer perked up, smiling from ear to ear as she reached through the cut in the mattress' side and inside it, pulling out a bundle of papers and documents moments later.

"Ha!" she let out, giving Pat a proud look, "see? Told you. Now let's see what we have here…"

Curious as well, the demon lowered herself into a crouch next to her; the first paper of the bundle turned out to be a birth certificate, telling them that the name of the assailant was Geoffrey Piretti, Buffy shaking her head when the taller woman asked her if this name meant anything to her.

"Never heard of it", she gave back, quickly thumbing through the rest of the documents, all of them clearly belonging to the same name; then, she reached the last paper in the stack, and her throat went dry as her eyes widened.

"But maybe it should mean something to you", she added, looking at the surprised Pat, the way Buffy was holding the papers keeping her from seeing what was on the last one and making her wonder why it clearly had upset the Slayer; moments later, the blonde answered this by holding said paper out to her, her good eye widening when she saw that it was a photo of her – and that the words "Die", "Death" and "Kill" had been scribbled all over it.

"Because he's not after me", Buffy went on, giving her a concerned look, "he's after you."


	12. Chapter 12

"What!" Willow cried out half an hour later, sitting up in her bed despite the doctor having told her earlier that she should avoid this as much as possible, "he's after you, not after Buffy?!"

"You know, I could be offended now that the thought of someone going after your girlfriend offends you so much more than the thought of the same someone going after me", Buffy commented before Pat could reply anything, "but since you're injured and all, I'll just let it slide."

"Well, seeing what we found, yes, he is", Pat confirmed with a sigh, "at least the nice words he scribbled all over my picture indicate that I'm not exactly his best friend in the whole wide world."

"While your sarcasm is usually appreciated by the group, this might not be the right time for it", Giles dryly pointed out, "with a clearly mentally unstable man after you. And you're sure his name means nothing to you?"

"No", Pat sighed out, running one hand through her hair, "never heard it before. But before I started hanging out with you guys, I didn't have much contact with humans, only when I took a contract from one or when I killed one."

"Maybe that's it", Xander threw in, making them all look at him, "someone out for revenge. Could be, right?"

"Wouldn't surprise me", the demon had to admit, momentarily looking dismayed, "actually, I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier."

"Has this happened to you before?" Giles wanted to know, momentarily surprised when the taller woman shook her head; for a few moments, there was silence, then Buffy spoke up again, looking at the demon as she chose her words carefully, not wanting to end up offending her. "Well… If he's after you, not me, maybe Xander and Anya should stay at my place then…"

"Yes, of course", Pat agreed at once, "much safer that way…" Nodding, Buffy gave her another look, then asked the couple to leave with her so they could get the few things they had at Pat and Willow's place; ignoring Dawn's protest, she dragged her out of the room with her after Xander and Anya had agreed, Giles getting the whole picture a moment later and following them outside, giving the witch and the demon some private time.

"So this is what he meant when he said you're in the way", Pat mumbled after a few moments of silence, moving over to the bed and sitting down next to it, "not to mention the 'hurt the ones you love' idea such people often have…"

"Don't you dare to blame yourself now", Willow gave back at once, ignoring the dull pain in her upper body as she leaned forward to grasp the taller woman's hand, "remember what Buffy said, that's not leading anywhere."

"I know", the demon sighed in reply, "and I'm trying to hold back with the self-blaming, believe me, but, well, it's not easy. If we had figured this out faster…"

"How were we supposed to?" the witch wanted to know in reply, "he first aimed for Buffy, so of course we all thought he's after her."

"And in truth, he just wanted to get her out of the way, too", Pat grumbled, "and if that bullet had hit me in a more dangerous spot when I took it for her, the job would have been over right then and there."

"Lucky for me, it wasn't", Willow smiled, squeezing her hand tenderly, "and, well, I doubt that this is just a job for this guy, seeing what he did to your picture… Or did you do that, too, whenever you were after someone?"

"Of course not", the demon replied, sounding so indignant that it made the witch's smile widen, "I'm not some deranged loony like this guy obviously is."

"And his name really mean's nothing to you?" Willow asked in reply, after thinking about this for a moment, "did you ever kill someone with that last name?"

"If I did, I don't remember", Pat sighed, now looking dismayed again, "not that I like admitting this to you, but… I've killed so many, there's no chance in Hell I can remember them all."

"Oh", the redhead gave back, not all too smart, but not sure what else she could say; with a wry smile, Pat looked at her for a moment longer, then got up from her seat and moved over to the window, looking outside in silence for a while, the redhead watching her, but not saying anything, knowing that look on her partner's face – she was working out what to do next, and preferably coming up with an idea that wouldn't endanger her or any of their friends.

"I'll wait for him", she finally said, turning to look at the witch again, "it's time to put an end to this."

"Wait for him where? In his hideout?" Willow wanted to know in reply, not sure what to think about this – she had been hoping for an idea that would be less dangerous, but to her dismay, she couldn't come up with anything, either.

"Yes", the demon confirmed, "unless he already noticed we've found it, I see no reason why he shouldn't go back there. And the next time he goes there, there'll be a little surprise waiting for him."

"Just be careful", Willow sighed, realizing she wouldn't be able to talk her partner out of this – she might have accomplished it if the guy hadn't hurt her, but after what he had done to her, Pat was hell-bent for vengeance, and nothing the redhead could say would make her change her mind.

"I will be", Pat reassured her, smiling slightly at her, "just so I can kill him quickly and then come back here and annoy you."

"Can't wait for that", the witch smiled, then gestured at her partner to come closer; gladly, Pat did so, bending down for a kiss afterwards, forced to hold back a sigh when it deepened and grew more passionate.

"Take care", the redhead whispered after the kiss, "don't let him hurt you. He's fast, and strong."

"And human", the demon pointed out, "unlike me. And if he doesn't know that, he's in for a nasty surprise."

"Even if he does, he might still be surprised about how strong you are", Willow thought out loud, "and after he beat me up, I have to say, I like that idea."

"Me too", the taller woman smirked, then kissed her once more, a short and innocent kiss this time; she reassured her once more that she'd be careful before she straightened up and left the room, the witch looking after her with worry, hoping and praying to anyone who might listen that everything would turn out just fine. Then, a way to make this more likely to happen came to her, and she smiled slightly as she leaned over to her nightstand, glad that Buffy had thought of bringing some of her stuff – among those things, her cell phone, which she used to call her best friend, quickly explaining what would happen and asking her to go there and join Pat just to be on the safe side, feeling much better about the whole situation once she had ended said call.

* * *

Already when she approached the cellar door, Pat could feel the man's presence; she wasn't sure why she did so, but didn't doubt it for a second, instinctively knowing that he was there, in this dark and dusty hiding place he had found, right beneath their noses. The mere thought of that man hiding down there for days, probably even weeks, angered the demon so much that she nearly burst through the door without thinking twice about it; it took almost all of her willpower to hold back, making sure that no smoke was curling from her hands before she pushed the door leading into the cellar open.

"Should have known it was you who found my little hiding place", she heard a familiar voice, the owner still hidden by all the clutter; she never had heard him speak in person, but hearing him in Willow's memories had been enough to burn the voice into her mind, and she recognized him instantly.

"Took me longer than it should have", Pat snarled, clenching her fists as she advanced carefully; the urge to let them flame up was big, but she fought it down, not sure yet if that guy actually knew she was a demon and wanting to surprise him with this little interesting fact in case he didn't.

"I thought so too, you know", he replied in the depths of the cellar, then laughed, the same annoying, high-pitched laugh he had let out when he had been beating up her girlfriend, "I expected you to find me much sooner. I've been waiting to meet you face to face, you know."

"Well, you could have just come up to me and said Hi", the black haired woman replied, squinting into the gloom, not wanting him to get the jump on her, "instead of, you know, trying to shoot one of my best friends and beating up my girlfriend."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have beaten her up if she wasn't sleeping with you", the man replied, sounding so nonchalant about it that made the demon grit her teeth again, "and anyway, just so you know, I was planning to kill her when I attacked her, it's too bad that didn't work out right, you have some quite nosy neighbours, you know."

Again her rage flared up at hearing those words, so bright and hot that it nearly made her flame up; then, she forced it back down, telling herself that this was just what he wanted, that he wanted to make her charge at him blindly so he could probably shoot her in the gut or something equally unpleasant.

_Keep your calm, _she told yourself as she kept moving closer to the sound of his voice, not liking the fact that he was hidden by yet another pile of various useless trashed items, _don't just rush at him, Willow will ban you to the couch if you let him shoot you again. _

That thought momentarily made her smile, and helped to calm her down further; giving her best to make no noise at all, she kept her mouth shut as she snuck closer to the pile of rubble hiding from her view, hoping he'd feel the need to say something again so she'd be able to determine how far away from her he was.

"Do you even know", he did her that favour just a second later, "why I'm after you? I bet you have no idea, huh?"

His voice made her realize how close he was, and she smirked to herself – clearly, he had thought that he could ambush her by waiting right behind the pile of rubble which was blocking her view on him, a sort of malicious glee welling up within her as she clenched her fists, making sure to take the last few steps as quietly as possible while he still waited for her to answer him.

"No", she did just that as she swiftly stepped around the pile and punched him; and to her endless shock, it felt as if she had rammed her fist against a steel beam, sharp pain running up her arm all the way to her shoulder while Piretti just stood there, completely unfazed by the hit.

"That hurt, huh", he asked, smiling while all she could do was stare at him, not able to figure out what had happened; when Willow had told her that he was a perfectly normal human, she hadn't doubted her for a second, and this threw her off-guard so much that she was nearly frozen with shock.

"No need to answer, I can tell it did", he went on, still smiling – before he clenched his fist as well and punched her straight in the jaw, moving so fast that she couldn't even try to block, a pained yelp escaping her as the hit landed and her feet actually left the ground for a few moments as it sent her flying, a haphazardly put up pile of old furniture and single pieces of wood putting an end to said flight, most of the stuff breaking beneath her as she landed on it.

"You think I just went into this blindly?" he asked her as she groaned on the pile of now broken and splintered wood, trying to figure out if he actually had broken her jaw when he had hit her, his fist feeling like steel as much as his face had when she had punched him, "I'm not stupid, you know. Maybe I'm not fully mentally stable, but I'm not stupid."

He smiled at her again, then bent down and grabbed her at the throat with one hand, lifting her up with ease and holding her a few inches over the ground, to her dismay not even breaking into a sweat, ignoring it when she grabbed his arm with both hands and let them flame up, clearly not hurt the slightest by her fire.

"There we go with the flames", he observed with a smile instead of letting go of her, said smile turning into a nasty grin when the lack of oxygen caused her face to redden, "I was waiting for you to show them, I've never seem them up close. And yes, before you ask, I've been watching you. I know what you are."

Momentarily, his grip on her throat tightened, making her wonder if he wanted to crush her windpipe now and kill her that way; then, he swiftly turned around, still having her in his grasp, and slammed her against the nearest wall, a low groan escaping her as the back of her head connected harshly with the stone.

"You know", he started again as he let go of her and she slumped to the ground, dazed, stars dancing in front of her eye, "when I set out to hunt you down, I was surprised at first that you didn't age during the last twenty years. But then I kept an eye on you – pardon the pun – and quickly figured out why. Not to mention that your Slayer friend helped when she called you 'everyone's favourite demon' once."

_Thanks, Buffy, _the demon sourly thought to herself, making a mental note to scold her about addressing her that way when they had been in public; then, she figured that for now, she should focus on not letting that guy kill her, her mind running wild as she tried to find an answer to the question why he was so strong and seemingly invincible, and how she could return him to a level of strength more fitting to a human.

"Of course, then I had to figure out how to face you without getting beaten to a pulp", he went on, smiling, obviously proud of all he had accomplished, "so I had to make you think I'm after your blonde friend. That worked well, huh?"

He waited for a moment to let her answer, and when she didn't, but merely glared at him, rage suddenly contorted his features, his eyes narrowing into slits while he bared his teeth at her, looking disturbingly animalistic as he lashed out with one foot and kicked her into the upper leg, so hard that he made her cry out and caused her leg to go numb all the way down to her foot.

"Hmmm", he let out, smiling, "I like the sound you make when I hurt you. You and I, we'll have a lot of fun together."

With those words, he bent down and grabbed her at the throat once more, picking her up with ease; his grip tightened until she couldn't breathe anymore, the small smile on his face widening when she started to let out choking noises, the feeble kicks she managed with the leg she still could feel not doing anything to him at all.

"Just relax, give into it", Piretti coaxed, "once you pass out, we can leave this nasty cellar, and then—"

The shovel struck him in the back of the head, hard enough to cause an audible _clonk _sound to echo through the cellar; more out of surprise than due to pain, he let go of the demon and started to turn around while she slumped down once more, just in time to see the shovel come at him once more as Buffy swung it with all her might, hitting him right in the face this time.

"Sorry", she then smiled, twirling the shovel a few times before readying it for another hit, "but I assume Pat would prefer to stay here instead of going anywhere with you."

"…careful", she heard Pat croak behind her, "he's really… strong…"

Nodding, Buffy gave her a brief look, figuring she'd better get her out fast, before Piretti might manage to take her down, as well; before she could come up with any idea though, he came charging at her, snorting like an angry bull, and she had to focus on fending him off, doing so by swinging the shovel upwards and catching him at the jaw with a hard blow, the force of the hit lifting him off his feet and sending him crashing into the very pile of rubble that had hidden him from view earlier, the various objects collapsing and burying him beneath themselves.

"Okay, that should keep him busy for a while", Buffy decided, dropping the shovel and quickly bending down, grasping the demon's arms so she could pull her to her feet, "can you walk?"

"Yeah, I think so", Pat gave back, coming to her feet with the aid of the Slayer; her leg still felt numb, making her wonder how hard he actually had kicked her, then she shrugged it off, telling herself that she could demon out later to heal any damage he might have done while Buffy already started dragging her to the door leading out of the cellar, the taller woman limping along as fast as she could, glad when their opponent didn't manage to free himself from the heap of rubble in time and they both could get away without taking any further harm.


	13. Chapter 13

"Yeah, I punched him and it was as if I hit solid steel", Pat recapped her rather disastrous meeting with Piretti a short time later, back in the hospital, grimacing and briefly rubbing her knuckles as she thought of how bad exactly that had hurt; she had demoned out in a quiet side alley to heal, but still felt the pain of the injuries she had taken, as she always did for a while even after the healing had been completed.

"And when he hit me", she went on, both Buffy and Willow listening in curious silence, "it was like being hit with a steel beam or something, he was really freakishly strong."

"That's odd", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment, "he must have juiced up with magic or something to face you then, because when he attacked me, he was strong, but human-strong, not freaky-demon-strong."

"Is there a spell that lets you juice up?" Buffy wanted to know, worried, not wanting to imagine if the everyday vampires and demons of Sunnydale got their hands on such a spell, her face falling when the redhead nodded immediately, Pat next to her not looking all too happy either.

"Yes, there is", the witch now confirmed verbally as well, "or maybe he just stole that strength, like that guy did one time with the help of his girlfriend and her magical amulet, remember?"

"Well, he did mention that he knows what I am", the demon thought out loud on reply after nodding to answer her partner's question, "so it would make sense for him to get some extra strength. Maybe we'll be lucky for once and that spell won't last forever."

"But then he can just recast it", Buffy pointed out in reply, unable to hold back a smile when Pat reacted by slapping one hand against her forehead, then gave her a sour look, her response causing the blonde's smile to widen slightly. "I totally didn't think of that. I must have hit my head harder than I thought."

"Poor you", Willow showed some sympathy, "but I guess we can be glad he didn't just shoot you the moment he saw you."

"Because he doesn't want me to die quickly", Pat sighed in reply after a moment, during which she had wondered if she should tell her partner this or keep it from her, then had decided that honesty was the way to go, "he actually said he likes the sound I make when he hurts me, and that we'll have a lot of fun together."

"So he wants to torture you?" the witch demanded to know in reply, paling visibly, "jeez… what did you do to this guy?"

"I have no idea", Pat mumbled, looking slightly ashamed, "but I suppose I must have killed someone close to him, that's the only reason I can come up with for such a need for revenge."

"Maybe Giles can find out", Buffy threw in, "I gave him the guy's name and asked him to go into research mode, maybe we'll at least be lucky about that."

"To be honest, I'm not even sure I want him to be", the demon sighed, then shrugged when both Buffy and Willow gave her a confused look, clarifying what she was talking about moments later, before any of the two could ask. "Well, I know we never really talk about that, or even acknowledge it, but I killed people. A lot of people. Technically, I should be number one on your to do list, Buffy."

"No, not really", the Slayer shrugged, "there are baddies out there who killed many more than you did. And anyway, you changed, you're helping the good side now, there's this little thing called redemption, you know?"

"Good point", the demon had to admit after a while, "but still can't blame that guy for trying, if I really did finish someone off close to him."

"Not for going after you", Buffy agreed after a moment, making Willow gasp, "but he also went after us, and that's not excused by whatever you might have done to him, none of us had anything to do with that."

"Another good point", Pat agreed at once, "and that's why I'm gonna take him down. As soon as we figured out how he got so strong."

"If you can get me some of my books from home, I can check for the spells he might have used", Willow offered in reply, still a bit shocked about Buffy's casual reaction to this man going after her partner, "then I can work up a counter spell."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the demon immediately wanted to know, not really surprising her partner, "I mean, you're still… quite hurt."

"Yes, but you might end up hurt even worse if we don't figure out which spell he used", the redhead shrugged in reply, "and I promise I'll look for one which isn't too exhausting."

"Fine", the taller woman sighed her agreement after a moment, knowing that Willow was right and that it'd be senseless to go up this guy again as long as they didn't know how he had gotten so strong and difficult to harm, "I'll go and get your books then… I'll hurry."

"And I'll come with you", Buffy immediately added, giving the black haired woman a strict look before she could protest, adding an explanation to make sure that no argument would unfold about her coming along. "Just in case he's hanging around there, we don't want him to kidnap you, do we?"

"No, we don't", Willow threw in before Pat could reply anything, "so the two of you, go and get my books and hurry back here."

"Yes Ma'am", Pat replied in a slightly mocking tone, making the redhead smile; the couple shared a short, but tender kiss, then the demon and the Slayer left the room together and headed for the exit, hailing a cab once more as they stepped outside on the sidewalk.

"One of us should really get a car", Buffy thought out loud while they got into the cab and told the driver where to take them, "having just two in the whole group clearly isn't enough."

"Yup", Pat agreed, only to raise an eyebrow when the blonde suggested that it should be her who'd get a vehicle, shrugging at the look she received for that.

"What?" she then wanted to know, "I'm not exactly a good driver. In fact, Willow says I drive like crazy, ask her."

"But I have just one eye", the taller woman pointed out in reply, "I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to drive without proper depth perception."

"Psh, you drove all the way to Maine", Buffy reminded her of the quite long drive she had taken a while ago, "and you did fine then, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah", Pat had to agree, "but that was mostly open road, without much other traffic."

Before this argument could go any further, the cab stopped in front of the apartment building and the driver let them know that they were there and how much they had to pay; pulling out her wallet, Pat did just that, adding a nice tip again before Buffy and she got out of the car and made their way into the building, both of them listening closely for any suspicious noise as they took the stairs up to the second floor.

"I wonder if he's still hiding out down there", Buffy mumbled to the taller woman as they stopped in front of the apartment door and Pat got out her keys to unlock it, "or if he relocated somewhere else, now that we know he's there and his last attempt to capture you there didn't work out."

"Yeah, good question", Pat agreed, unlocking the door and pushing it open, "I'd say we should go downstairs and check after we got the books, but as long as he's still so strong…"

"It wouldn't make much sense", Buffy finished for her, "we'd only get our asses kicked again."

"Yup", the demon agreed once more, making her way into the living room with the Slayer; there, she stopped at the bookshelf and started pulling out the volumes Willow would need, glad that the witch didn't have a ton of magic books at their home, but also worried if the limited selection might mean that she wouldn't find the information she'd need to take Piretti's strength away.

"Let's hope the spell Willow needs is in there", she voiced those concerns, making Buffy nod, "or we'll have to raid the Magic Box and Anya will surely complain if we take all those…" She trailed off as she heard a strange bumping noise from the kitchen; the way Buffy tensed up next to her made it obvious that she had heard it as well, the two exchanging a worried glance – before they clenched their fists in perfect unison and started sneaking towards the doorway leading to the kitchen, suddenly sure they'd find their opponent there.

Without even noticing that she was doing it, Pat hold her breath as she stepped into the kitchen at last, already prepared for getting punched again any moment; to her relief and slight surprise, the room was empty though, looking just like it had when she had left the last time.

"False alarm", she told Buffy, turning around to look at her, "he's not…"

"Surprise", Piretti snarled as he stepped up behind the Slayer, prompting her to gasp and to twirl around; and the moment she was facing him, he blew a large amount of powder he had been carrying on the flat of his hand at both the demon and the blonde, making them cough as they stepped back from him, trying to figure out what that had been done for.

Snarling, Pat brought her fists up, ready to fight; before she could do more than that though, the world started spinning around her, and suddenly, she found it difficult to stay on her feet, the way Buffy was swaying next to her showing her that she wasn't the only one with this problem.

Smiling, Piretti took a step back, watching how they both slumped to their knees as they fought to stay conscious; then, the powder he had used against them finished its job and they both went down, the last thing they saw before the world went dark around them being the nasty smirk on their assailant's face.


	14. Chapter 14

When Buffy came around again, she had no idea how long she had been knocked out; her head was hammering and her mouth was dry, her tongue feeling like a dried up sponge as she sat up with a low groan, only to slump back down as the world started spinning around her once more.

"That bastard", she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes and fighting down the urge to clutch the carpet; to her relief, the spinning sensation ceased after a few more moments, and she tried sitting up once more, glad when it worked out this time.

Dully, she asked herself what exactly had been in the stuff Piretti had blown into her face to knock her out so thoroughly; when she glanced at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall, she saw to her shock that she had been unconscious for almost an hour, her blood running even colder when she realized that she couldn't spot Pat or Piretti anywhere.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" she cursed as she realized what exactly had happened, her dizziness forgotten as she hurriedly came to her feet; she still took the time to collect all the books Pat had pulled out of the shelves, then rushed outside, telling herself that she had to get back to Willow as fast as possible so they could figure out a solution – before their opponent might do God knew what to the demon.

Holding the books beneath her arm and hoping she wouldn't drop any of them, not wanting to lose precious time by having to pick them up, Buffy hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator; to her dismay, there was no cab in sight this time, and for a moment, she considered phoning for one, then dismissed the idea and started to run inside, figuring that she could get to the hospital quite fast thanks to her Slayer strength and speed.

Several of the people on the street gave her weird looks as she ran by, but she ignored them, only focused on getting to Willow as fast as possible; she didn't want to imagine the reaction the redhead might have to hearing that her partner had been taken, and hoped with all her heart that she'd keep enough of her calm to figure out what to do, the blonde well aware of the fact that she couldn't just go up against Piretti without having any idea where his strength and supposed invincibility came from.

Giving her best to control her breathing to make running easier, she kept rushing down the sidewalk, skilfully avoiding the other people there; once, she nearly ran one of them down despite her tries, calling an apology out to him over her shoulder before she focused on her breathing and on running again, relieved when the hospital appeared in the distance a few minutes later.

"Must be a new record", she muttered to herself as she kept running, approaching the building's entrance; only when she had reached the doors, she slowed down, not wanting to barge into the lobby with a bunch of magic books in her arms and gain the attention of every single patient, visitor, nurse and doctor around.

Even though she still wanted to run, she made herself walk at a normal pace, making her way to Willow's room; and the moment she entered, all the redhead had to do was to take one look at her face and she sat up straight in her bed, looking alarmed, her voice carrying the same emotion when she asked her what had happened and where Pat was.

"He got her", Buffy gave back at once, figuring that it wouldn't do any good to lie to her, "he was at your place, and blew some powder into our faces that knocked us both out, and when I woke up, they were both gone…"

"Oh God", Willow breathed in reply, feeling as if she was close to fainting now, "who knows what he's doing to her right now…"

"I brought the books you wanted", Buffy gave back, fighting hard to keep her voice steady and calm since various unpleasant images were entering her mind as well now, "so once you figured out how to stop him from being like made of iron, you can do the locator spell for her and I'll go there and kick his ass, okay?"

"I'll come with you", Willow replied at once, ignoring the way the Slayer's eyes went wide, and only shrugging when Buffy pointed out that she was still hurt and shouldn't get out of bed, not with internal injuries which were still healing up.

"You know, I don't need to borrow Pat's power to heal", she then explained, "healing without the help of that will be hard, but it can be done."

"But doesn't it take a lot of strength?" Buffy wanted to know, looking concerned, "what if you overdo it? Or what if…"

"What if the dark magic takes over again?" Willow finished the sentence for her, then, to the Slayer's shock, shrugged, sounding cold and uncaring when she went on. "Well, in this case, I say, let it. A man who clearly is not on the sane side of the spectrum has kidnapped my girlfriend, taken her God knows where, and is doing God knows what to her there. If I need to use dark magic to find her and get her out of there, fine, then I will."

"No, you won't", Buffy told her in the strictest voice she could muster, "do you think she'd want you to do that? You know her better than that."

"…you're right", the witch had to agree after a moment, letting out a sigh, "but, Buffy, he took her and who knows what he's doing to her…"

"I have a lot of strength", the Slayer pointed out after thinking about it for a moment, "do you think you could… I don't know, tap into that to heal?"

"I could try", the witch nodded, "if you really want to do that. It won't work otherwise, you know."

"I want to do that", Buffy reassured her at once, moving a bit closer to her, "I'll let you suck me dry if that means that the dark magic will stay where it belongs, namely in the far back of your mind, where it can't take over."

"I won't suck you dry", Willow protested at once, "I'd never do that. But if you really want to let me tap into your strength… well, come closer and take my hands."

Nodding, Buffy pushed the chair closer to the bed, taking in a deep breath before she took careful hold of her best friend's hands; she just wanted to ask if she had to do anything when all at once, it felt as if something was tugging at the very core of her soul, a feeling she never had experienced before and until now even wouldn't have been able to put into words, should someone have asked her.

"Oh God", she brought out, her eyes going wide; and then, the feeling intensified and it felt as if someone had hit her between the eyes with a sledgehammer, a low groan escaping her as her head got thrown back into her neck and the world went dark around her once more, the last thing she registered being the shock in Willow's voice as the witch cried out her name.

* * *

"Let's talk", Piretti said with a small smile as he walked up and down in front of his captive, looking at her with a glint in his eyes that once more pointed out his alarming lack of sanity; to her dismay, all Pat could do for the moment was remain on the chair she had woken up on, having to give him credit for still being sane enough to think of using handcuffs and chains to keep her on it instead of something she could have burned.

"You still have no idea why I'm after you, do you", he went on, stopping in front of her; all she could do in reply was let out a low grunt, since he had tied a thickly rolled up cloth between her teeth; she knew that she could burn that, but didn't see why, since he probably only would gag her again.

"I'll take that as a no", Piretti continued, unimpressed by the angry glare she gave him, "but, since we finally have time to talk, I'm gonna explain. You wanna hear my story, don't you?"

He waited for her to grunt again, his smile widening slightly when she did so – before he suddenly stepped closer to her, pulled out the gun he had tugged into the back of his pants and hit her in the face hard with the barrel, grinning even wider when she let out a grunt of pain in reply, blood trickling down her cheek from where the blow had landed.

"You know", he went on after a moment, as if nothing had happened, "I've been after you for the last ten years or so. Took me a while to find you, you're really good with that whole 'on the run' thing. Guess it was lucky for me that you decided to settle down here, huh?"

She wanted to tell him that she'd never been on the run, but just had kept moving from town to town due to her line of work back then; the gag prevented her from doing so though, and all she could do was grunt again while he lowered himself into a crouch in front of her, idly playing with the gun as he spoke on.

"And lucky for me that you hooked up with that hot redhead. I knew that you'd go berserk if I'd do anything to her and forget all caution, I read up about your kind before I went after her and your other friends, you know", he let her know, smiling as he came to his feet and started pacing again, "as I told you, when I found you, I was quite surprised you didn't age, but then that demon thing… Quite interesting. You know, I never really believed in all that stuff, but being in this lovely town for a while taught me different."

He fell silent, studying her for a few moments – before he hit her with the barrel of the gun once more, smiling when she involuntarily let out another pained groan in response.

"You gave me so much pain", he let her know, "I'm glad I can finally give some back. But I bet you don't even remember what you did to me, huh?"

Not willing to play along with whatever strange game he had in mind, Pat just glared at him again; he held her gaze for a few seconds, clearly waiting for an answer – before he brought up the gun again in an almost casual motion and shot her in the leg, smiling again when she let out a muffled yell in response.

"It's polite to answer when someone asks you a question", he let her know, lowering the gun again, "so, do you remember what you did to me?"

Not wanting to get shot again, she quickly shook her head; he let out a sigh in reply, sounding disappointed – before his free hand clenched into a fist and shot forward, punching her right in the nose, making her feel as if she had been hit with a piece of steel again while she let out a low grunt, blood practically gushing from both nostrils and soaking the gag in her mouth.

"Should have known", he spat, "but it's still a disappointment. Didn't you even bother to go through the people you killed after you found out my name?"

Again, she shook her head, making him snarl; at least he didn't her again this time though, but merely moved closer to her, grabbing the front of her shirt and jerking her upwards as far as the handcuffs and chains allowed it, his breath hot on her face when he finally answered his own question.

"You killed my mother, bitch!" he yelled at her, spittle flying from his mouth and landing on her face, "you killed her and you took her away from me and now I'll make you pay!"

And with those words, he let go of her again, causing her to slump back onto the seat as he brought the gun up and hit her, again and again, not caring where his blows landed; after a while, he dropped the weapon and switched to using his feet and fists instead, until her world was dominated by the pain so completely that it blocked everything else out, nearly making her feel grateful when it finally got too much and she passed out.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Since I'll be home too late to update tomorrow, I'm doing it a day early. And it's the final one! I hope you enjoyed. :)

* * *

"Sorry about that", Piretti smiled as he dumped yet another bucket of cold water on the groaning demon, waking her up again at last, "ever since my mother died, I have these anger issues, you know? Oh, but I suppose died is the wrong word, since you killed her, so murdered would be more appropriate, don't you think?"

She groaned into the gag in reply, fighting down the urge to throw up at the taste of blood in her mouth; Piretti just smiled, then raised his fist, chuckling when the demon flinched visibly at the simple gesture.

"Would you look at that", he then smirked, "the big, tough assassin is now all scared of me. Must have been a while since you took such a beating, eh? Especially from a human. Well, I'm glad I could remind you of how that feels. Now you know a fraction of the pain I have to deal with every day."

He lowered his fist again and checked his watch, then sighed, giving her a dismayed look while he picked the gun up again and pulled back the hammer, a hint of regret in his voice as he spoke up once more, his words causing her good eye to briefly go wide, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to get out of this before he could make his words come true. "Well, I'd love to play a bit longer, but since you have such capable friends, I unfortunately now have to put an end to our time together. I really wish it could have been longer."

With those words, he sighed in dismay, then raised the gun and aimed at the taller woman's head; squeezing her good eye shut, Pat tried to prepare herself for the impact, morbidly asking herself if she'd feel anything or if getting shot into the head would kill her so quickly that there wouldn't be any pain at all. When the low bang echoed through the small room she had woken up in, she flinched, her breath speeding up involuntarily; and a few seconds later, she realized that she was still alive and that there was no new pain added to the countless injuries he had inflicted on her during the beating, prompting her to slowly open her eye again, a surprised noise coming from her when she saw Piretti lying on the ground in front of her, groaning.

"Party's over", Willow's voice came from the right, making the demon look into that direction; their eyes met, and all the cold anger which had been dominating the redhead's expression vanished, replaced by shock and concern at the bad state her partner was in, looking as bad as she herself had after the beating she had been given.

"Buffy, finish him off", she called to her best friend after a few more seconds of shocked silence, already hurrying to the chair her partner had been chained to, "or at least knock him out, I'll get her out!"

Nodding, the Slayer hurried to where Piretti was still groaning and trying to come to his feet; she wasn't sure which spell exactly Willow had used on him, but it obviously had been quite effective, since he was looking dazed and clearly had a hard time figuring out what was going on.

"It's okay, we're here, we've got you", the witch said in the most reassuring voice she could manage, pulling the gag out of the demon's mouth, "you'll be okay, just let me open these, can you can get up and heal…"

"You came…" Pat started, then fell silent, cleared her throat – and shocked Willow by spitting a rather large glob of blood to the ground, the redhead briefly stopping her examination of the locks and handcuffs so she could give her girlfriend a worried look, then focused on the task at hand again while the demon spoke on, her voice even hoarser than usual, the pain she could hear in it clenching up Willow's heart, "just in time."

"I know", the witch told her, then fell silent again as she touched one of the locks and concentrated; it sprang open a second later, and she smiled, moving on to the next one and quickly opening it with her magic, as well. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of fists meeting flesh as Buffy was beating their assailant up viciously; for a moment, she felt tempted to watch, at least for a few seconds, then told herself that this was stupid and that she had to take care of Pat first, doing so by opening the remaining locks with her magic and then helping the demon to her feet, her heart aching again at the groans the taller woman was letting out at the movement.

Just as Pat had managed to come to her feet, Buffy suddenly cried out in pain behind the witch, prompting her to look what was going on; to her shock and dismay, Piretti had managed to land what must have been quite a powerful hit, since the Slayer was stumbling backwards, clutching at her face, and Piretti was coming to his feet, his eyes darting back and forth frantically as he looked for his gun. Before he could find it though, Buffy had recovered enough to attack again, landing a solid punch against his back; a noise as if she'd hit steel echoed through the room, and she yelped, stumbling backwards again and clutching her fist in disbelief.

"Leave me be", Pat wheezed in her partner's grasp, "go, help Buffy, take that away from him…"

"Alright", the witch agreed after a moment of doubt; the second she let go of Pat again, the demon slumped back down to the chair, another groan escaping her at the movement and nearly making Willow change her mind again – before she told herself that taking out Piretti was more important now and moved to do just that, already mumbling the spell which would take away his insane strength and robustness.

"Oh no, you won't", he snarled as she got close enough to say the words; to her dismay, the only spell she had found which would have the desired effect required that she was touching the target while saying the final words, so she couldn't try to move back and avoid him as he charged at her, snarling again, ignoring Buffy who tried to come to her feet behind him after having taken another quite hard hit.

For a moment, Willow flashed back to when he had beaten her up, how he had been laughing the entire time while his fists seemingly had been everywhere; this gave her the resolve she needed to remain where she was, even letting him tackle her over, forcing herself to go on with the spell even when she landed on the cold concrete floor quite hard and pain flared up in her back.

"I don't know how you healed so fast", Piretti panted, pulling back his fist, "but I can gladly beat you to a pulp again, you demon-fucking bitch!"

In response, Willow said the last few words of the spell, grabbing his other arm as she did so; then his fist came down and connected, slamming her head into the concrete beneath her, and she saw stars dancing in front of her eyes, for a moment not sure if the magic even had worked out the way it had been supposed to. If it had, Piretti either hadn't noticed or had decided to ignore it, since he just pulled his fist back again, his teeth grit – and then a loud growl echoed through the small room and a large and furry form tackled him, throwing him off the witch and forcing him to the ground, Pat still growling shockingly loud as she grabbed his head with both hands and slammed it against the floor.

Clearly, at least the part of the spell which had made him almost invincible had been destroyed when Willow had finished her magic, since he let out an audible groan, blood dripping to the concrete moments later; one of his hands started groping at his pants, probably looking for a weapon, but before he could find it, the demon had moved off of him again and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up until he was dangling in her grasp, his face slowly reddening as he couldn't breathe anymore.

"You know", she grumbled, in the deep and guttural voice she always got when she demoned out, "I more or less understood why you went after me, and for a while, I even felt sorry. But hurting my girlfriend and my friends, there's no excuse for that."

"Kill me, then", he panted, grabbing her arm with both hands in a vain attempt to stabilize himself a bit and take some of the pressure off his throat, "come on, do it! Finish me like you finished my mother, stupid bitch!"

Snarling, the demon tightened her grip around his throat in reply while behind her, Buffy moved over to Willow and helped the witch to her feet after making sure she hadn't been badly hurt; both her upper and lower lip had been split by the punch, and blood was trickling down her chin, but other than that, she seemed fine, to the relief of her best friend.

"Come on, what are you waiting for", Piretti now went on, struggling in her grip despite his own brave words, "do it, kill me! I would have killed you if your buddies hadn't come to rescue you!"

In response, the taller woman's already glowing good eye started to shine even brighter for a few moments – before she broke the man's neck with a sharp move of her wrist, the sound of the breaking bone clearly audible and making both Buffy and Willow grimace.

"There", the demon snarled, dropping the lifeless body, "wish fulfilled. Have fun in Hell, you—"

She fell silent abruptly when a strange glow started to form around Piretti's dead body; behind her, all Buffy and Willow could do was stare, as well – before the witch let out a startled cry as the glow exploded into a concentrated ray of bright light, hitting her partner in the chest and sending her backwards until the wall stopped her harshly, a grunt escaping her as she slumped down on all fours.

"Pat!" Willow cried out as she got over her shock and hurried to her girlfriend's side, "are you okay?"

"Yeah", the demon mumbled after a second, coming to her feet again and changing back to her human form, all the wounds Piretti had inflicted on her healed by now, "I'm fine… What the Hell was that?"

"I've read about this", Willow gave back as she moved closer to her, "it's possible to… kind of store a spell within your mind, and the moment you die, it's cast. He must have been pretty good with the magic to do that, it's quite difficult, as far as I know… I wonder what it was supposed to do."

"I think I know what it did", Pat replied in a strangely indifferent voice, the same emotion in her gaze when she looked down on the witch, almost making her take a step back, the demon's next words making her eyes go wide. "Willow… I don't think I love you anymore."

To Be Continued…


End file.
